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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29200134">Atalanta (Various!Miraculous Ladybug x Anti-hero!Reader!)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitchwithscoliosis/pseuds/bitchwithscoliosis'>bitchwithscoliosis</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Multi, Read this on Quotev, Reader-Insert, Swearing, slight comedy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:41:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>40,415</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29200134</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitchwithscoliosis/pseuds/bitchwithscoliosis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In which a pathological manipulator and liar stumbles upon the Kwamis of Ambivalence and faces the struggles of her inner conscience. Having lost the memories of the turning moment of your life, you dedicated yourself to finding the truth however obstacles continue to go in between you and your goal; the most difficult of all, the almost suffocating affection given by those around you. In your madness, they had seen beauty and found solace and drowned themselves in the toxicity of your love. </p><p>With your given power, will you bring peace to the world?</p><p>Or will you be the one to destroy it?</p><p>Warnings: Violence, blood, alcohol, profanity</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir &amp; Reader, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Reader, Chloé Bourgeois &amp; Reader, Chloé Bourgeois/Reader, Kagami Tsurugi/Original Character(s), Kagami Tsurugi/Reader, Lila Rossi &amp; Original Female Character(s), Lila Rossi/Reader, Luka Couffaine/Reader, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug &amp; Reader, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>110</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sweat gathered at the lines of your palm, mixing with the nervous droplets of the one holding your much smaller hand. You breathed heavily as you ran alongside the person, constantly tripping on the pebbles that covered the entire area. Once shiny, now clumped hair sticking to your scalp like two inseparable atoms. Tripping on an outgrown root, you breathed, "I can't do it anymore.."</p><p>Suddenly being picked up by a stronger force, they placed you on their shoulder. You rested your forehead on their back, eyes scrunched in guilt. "I'm sorry... I can't keep up."</p><p>Without looking, you somehow knew they smiled at you in reassurance. "Don't apologize. I'm stronger than you think."</p><p>Your head hurt from all the running you did, the fatigue finally catching up to your weak little body. Visions of green grass, grey pebbles, and overgrown roots flooded your eyes in blurred flurries. The lines to separate each object bled into each other as your will to keep your consciousness alive was dwindling. The constant running of the person who held you gave you sharp fleeting headaches that felt like needle-like forces pricking the frontal lobe of your brain. Being held in an awkward position had your blood pressure going up, adding to more numbing pain to your brain. High-pitched ringing emerged from every corner forcing you to lose focus every time. Every part of you felt numb except for the pain in your brain; it felt as though every nerve except for the one in your head stopped working to distribute more power to your head. Shakily, you led your hands to your head, desperately massaging the pain away. </p><p>Your dying thoughts went to wonder how you got into this situation. Where did it go wrong? You acted perfectly, every single line was said without flaw. You were gracious in every move and every move calculated. But now, you could hardly distinguish red from orange; your head filled with thoughts of blurred objects and confusion. Where was the brain that won multiple academic competitions?</p><p>You could hardly guess what was happening. Trying to lift yourself made your headaches even worse. Slowly taking deep breathes, you calmed yourself. After a few breathes, you could see the once bleeding realities become slightly clearer. 'Better than nothing', you thought. You slowly lifted your head and was met with white blinding light. Your head filled with even more headaches, this time sharper and longer. You didn't hear yourself let out a whimper that motivated the person carrying you to run faster. </p><p>Gritting your teeth, you cringed in disgust as you felt your tears leak to your forehead. You covered your face with your shaking hands as you focused on hearing what was happening around you. You took deep breathes again and slowly found yourself hearing things better. </p><p>In muted, gruff voices, someone shouted, "Stop running, you will never get away!" </p><p>Who were they talking to? Why were they chasing you? Did you steal something? Impossible, you could have bought every store in existence. Headaches increasing, you stopped thinking and focused on making the migraines go away. </p><p>You groaned in pain, "Don't worry, (Y/N). It'll be over soon, don't worry." They reassured but even in your state, you could sense the doubt in his tone. "Hey, you still there?"</p><p>You groaned in response. Don't worry. Don't worry. Don't worry. How could you not? You were running away from someone, and you didn't even know why. What was happen-</p><p>You were suddenly thrown off their back and landed harshly on your spine. Rolling over a few times, your stomach kissed the ground and you could feel pain emerge from every single part of your body, your head and spine receiving it the most. You could feel someone picking you up again in desperation, "Shit. Shit. I'm so sorry, fuck!"</p><p>Just as you were about to place it on his back again, you briefly saw someone harshly pulling the person away from you. You fell back again, vision blurring. In blurry shapes, you could see someone reaching out to you as they fought back the people pulling them. </p><p>In a muted voice, they shouted, "(Y/N), run! Run! Run, dammit!"</p><p>They repeated your name multiple times, each time becoming clearer until you could feel a strong voice shout your name. Your vision cleared slightly as you forced yourself to stand. You took a step toward the person calling you and slowly lifted your hand. "No! The other way! Leave, now!" </p><p>Your eyebrows furrowed in worry and as if they could understand, they replied, "Don't worry about me! Just go! Go where no one can find you!"</p><p>"Where?" You whispered in a tiny voice. </p><p>"The Centaur! Follow him!"</p><p>You felt someone place a heavy hand on your shoulder, you looked up and saw the shape of a blurry man. "Let's go now, (Y/N). You shouldn't see this. This is what you must never be."</p><p>The man turned you away from the screaming person but you looked back at them, your vision clearing steadily. Your eyes slowly widened in recognition. And regret.</p><p>"Bl-!"</p><p>You could see the blazing fire in those tired eyes. "Look to the sky, he is where ever you are."</p><p>Your eyes rapidly widened in panic as you ripped yourself away from the man holding you. "No!"</p><p>You tripped multiple times as you tried to reach the guys who threw him into the back of a car. </p><p>"NO! WAIT!"</p><p>"PLEASE!" You screamed in desperation. </p><p>You felt the harsh grip of the man on your forearm. "Stop acting like this! You are being a disgrace!"</p><p>"Let go of me, please!" You cried.</p><p>The man dragged you away with immense force that you fell to the ground. You quickly tried to get up with shaking limbs but his hand latched onto your forearm once more and dragged you with immovable strength. You cried and thrashed around as you tried to pry his hand away. He screamed multiple threats to you but it fell deaf on your ears; the only thing you wanted to hear was his voice again. </p><p>You heard him ask his men to shove you back into his car. You tried your hardest but fighting against a buff security guard was never an easy task, to begin with. Before shoving your head into the car, you cried out one last time, hoping your voice reaches him.</p><p>"BLAISE!"</p><p>-</p><p>The wind was silent that night. If you focused hard enough, you could barely hear the ruffling of the well-trimmed trees around your house. It felt as though the night wanted to sympathize and share its condolence with you. However, no amount of sorries and concerns could ever ease you right now.</p><p>The pain was numb. It didn't feel like anything. It was a numb buzzing feeling underneath your skin, not one that could raise the hairs on your arm but rather one that makes your entire body feel hot and exposed. You felt naked despite the multiple layers of clothing wrapped around your fragile body. </p><p>Strangely enough, the numbing pain wasn't strongest on your chest like what most people would say. The pain was on your spine, growing and flowing through the nerves with this uncomfortable emotion. It started around your spine and crawled up to your shoulders like spiders and tickled your neck with the feathers of its sinisterness.</p><p>Was this guilt? Were you blaming yourself for what happened? Or was this shame? Shame because you were too weak to do anything. Shame because you spent so much time easing migraines and tripping that you could do nothing to help. Was that perhaps the cause of both of your downfall? Did one mistake truly cost it all?</p><p>You looked to the sky. It was strangely starless, only the moon shone brightly. What were you to do now? You had many questions left unanswered.</p><p>But you didn't mind it for the time being.</p><p>Right now, you were just concerned with your plans to avenge him.</p><p>You didn't know who was to pay for the price, but this time, you would calculate every move and make no flaw. "I'll get to the bottom of this."</p><p>"I'll find you, Blaise. Even if I have to burn every city and watch this world fall into ashes."</p><p>That night, the moonlight dulled. </p><p>Thank you for reading the first chapter!</p><p>First of all, I want to say that this story will be more realistic than the show itself. I plan on including politics, death, blood, alcohol, swearing, etc. Nothing too drastic, but I wanted it to take a more serious note since I've always thought Miraculous Ladybug would've been better as a teen show. The characters will be aged up, all of them except for Reader will be 16. Also, they're gonna be taller because damn I refuse to believe Adrien is 5'0 and Marinette is 4'6.</p><p>Second, I accept and encourage constructive criticism. It will benefit me.</p><p>Third, I do not have a fixed updating schedule. Updates will depend on how busy or free I am.</p><p>Fourth, Reader will have 6-7 love interests. I'm planning on deducting them though. Your ships will be destroyed in these fics. </p><p>Fifth, Reader is an anti-hero so she will portray villainous traits. I don't want people in the comments talking about how rude she is because that's the whole point. </p><p> </p><p>That's all! Thanks once again for reading my story. I hope you will be able to enjoy it. Also, I'm painfully new to this site and tbh i dont really know what im doing??</p><p> </p><p>Status: Unedited.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter I - Crux</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Bold is understood as Mandarin.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"By agreeing to the terms, we are no longer responsible for any damage held on/at the following premises: 1, 504 ha of the Yishan valley, on the borders of Mt. Huangshan-- Father, may I why are you asking me to read the terms and conditions of this contract?" You asked, hiding the annoyance on your face with a neutral expression.</p><p>"Let's use our brain now, shall we? A leader must know what their follower wants." He responded, arms crossed. His cold, obsidian eyes were juxtaposed on your own. Knowing he was challenging you, you lowered your eyes. Gritting your teeth, you thought, 'This bastard'</p><p>"Are you perhaps making a plantation on the valley?" You asked, eyes briefly scanning the paper. 'Opium poppy?' You thought.</p><p>"Yes. Opium poppy. As you can read."</p><p>Stupidly, you asked, "Is it to manufacture opium?" </p><p>"What else for? Do you take me as a person who creates gardens for fun?" You grit your teeth, annoyance building up inside you. You've always wondered why you were related to him? He out of all fathers there are in the world. "No, father. I apologize if I made it seem that way." </p><p>It was better this way. You knew better than to trigger him. "But father, if you are caught-"</p><p>"Tell me, my dear. In all of my subsidiaries, have I ever failed? Did you seriously think I wouldn't think of that? A businessman calculates ALL his moves; he balances and weighs his options out." </p><p>'There he goes again.' You stood up, "Father, I am suddenly feeling ill. May I excuse myself?"</p><p>He squinted his eyes at you. "You've been misbehaving a lot today."</p><p>"I apologize, father. I seem to be coming down with something since our flight." You said, walking to his desk and placing the documents down. "Tell Aanya to send a nurse on your way out."</p><p>You mumbled a 'yes, father' before closing the door. You leaned your back against it and closed your tired eyes before releasing a sigh and heading to your room. You didn't bother to observe your surroundings. Wooden floors and walls, lines with multiple traditional ornaments and decorations. You walked into the extensive living room where your father's secretary sat. "Aanya, can you get me some green tea?"</p><p>She gave you a small smile and nodded. You took that as a sign to head to your respective room. It was a large suite, big enough to hold two living rooms. The same wooden floors were in your room but your walls were a creme white with handpainted mountains and waterfalls. A luxurious paper-mache lantern hangs from the ceiling. Several traditional Chinese decorations were put up. You plopped yourself onto your Queen-sized bed, running your fingers against the velvet bedding. </p><p>"One day, he'll be exposed for all the illegal business he's holding..." You hoped that at least. As much as you hated him, you couldn't deny that he was incredibly influential. Influential enough to keep all these illegal activities in the dark. Now that you thought about it, opium is probably the lesser evil of the subsidiaries your father owns. How could you ever forget the marijuana plantations, the fast-fashion brands he manufactures for, and the oil refinery? Opium suddenly seemed so innocent now. </p><p>SK Group, the conglomerate your family has owned for generations. What started as a simple instrument shop now turned into one of England's, perhaps the whole world, leading corporations. Built off the backs of extorted workers and children, the company you were to inherit contained plenty of daughter companies stationed throughout the entire world. Perhaps the thing SK Group was most known for was one of the world's most used social media, Storyll. Plenty of businesspeople and ignorant morons look up to your father for the spikes of sales since his reign, already preceding his mother who was the previous owner. Your father was incredibly innovative and knew what the market wanted. Your father was the paragon of all leaders. But you knew better. No one could be at the top of the food chain ethically; you knew of his extortion, tax evasion, plagiarism, and plenty more. It was simply stupid to believe that one could be a billionaire and be innocent. Your father did things and you hated him for it.</p><p>But perhaps, you aren't that different. You choose to stand by and let it happen right under your nose despite knowing that tired mothers go home to their hoping children with only $5 in her hand. But you didn't have a choice right? Your father is forcing you to do this, there is simply nothing you could do but wallow in your own self-pity. After all, wallowing in self-pity with a bath filled with diamonds was better than wallowing in self-pity in the streets.</p><p>Deciding not to let those thoughts plague your mind, you stood up and paced to your balcony. The mansion you rented was placed in the mountains, right below the valley and the village that surrounded it. It overlooked the land and you watched as the orange sky kissed the valley. The sky was especially beautiful this afternoon and you wondered if something interesting might happen today.</p><p>You looked over the distance. Tall mountain ranges surrounded the area, with moss-like grass grappling its side. The mountains were about a thousand meters tall. On the foot of it, lay a barren valley, big enough to house 10 farms. 'I guess this is where we'll plant it.', you thought. Turning your head, you squint at something in the distance. It seems to be some sort of broken-down structure. From your view, it looked like it was made of stone, old old stone; it seemed to have crumbled a long time ago. Moss covered a majority of it. </p><p>"Interesting. I wonder what's up there." Strangely enough, you couldn't stop staring at it. It felt as though it was calling to you. Like an invisible force pulling you towards it, captivating you with its gravity. You felt an unfamiliar wanting in your chest and even clutching it didn't stop the want. "What the hell? What is up there?"</p><p>You heard a deep pur from the corner of your bed and it snapped you out of your trance. </p><p>"Oh, Kayden." You faced your fat ginger cat with a white belly. He pawed at the foot of the bed and tried jumping up but failed. "I need to diet you, y'know that?" Kayden simply gave you a grumpy stare. </p><p>Deciding to assist him, you pushed his fatass butt up the bed before snatching him to your chest. "You're so fluffy." </p><p>Kayden, being the asshole he is, ironically roughly pushed your face away with his soft paw. You groaned before glaring at him, "When will you love me?" Kayden didn't face you as he plopped down and slept. You sighed and decided to turn in for the night as well.</p><p>-</p><p>Your father, Theo, examined the valley from the open vehicle you and he were sitting on while Aanya drove. The Chinese man sat beside you as he tried to speak in English. "You see... this land, very healthy!" He said with a heavy accent.</p><p>"No need. My daughter speaks Chinese." Theo said as he looked in your direction with a pointed stare. You simply nodded at him before greeting the Chinese man. "Hello, I am (Y/N) (L/N). You can talk through me instead."</p><p>"Ah yes, as I was saying. This land is very healthy and land throughout the Anhui Province is very fertile. The land stretches about 2, 350 acres, from the foot of the Huangshan mountains to the road we are currently on. I've had several people wanting to buy this but your father made the greatest offer." And so you relayed the message to your father.</p><p>"I see. I have signed the contracts already. Aanya, give him the papers." The secretary stopped the vehicle to reach for the papers in her case. "When will the transaction be finished?"</p><p>"It will be done within this week. In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying your stay in the Sui House. It was one of the many family houses of the Sui dynasty, after all."</p><p>"It is very pleasing." Your father grunted, clearly wanting the conversation to be over. The Chinese man however did not catch on. "Are you planning to build a garden?"</p><p>"Yes, yes I am." You took this as a sign to tell the Chinese man that your father wanted to go back to the house and the conversation ended there. Your eyes however were stuck on the mountain that covered the temple. There was that ache and the urge to know again. </p><p>Noticing your eyes, the Chinese man spoke, "Have you seen the temple? It is more beautiful when you look at it closely. It's a popular tourist site here."</p><p>"Hmm, I have actually. It looks captivating."</p><p>"It was built 1,000 years ago by monks and was used as a site to train martial arts. However, it was suddenly destroyed and went up in flames around 100 years ago."</p><p>"Why did it burn down?" You asked, intrigued. </p><p>"No one truly knows. The people here form their own theories. Some say it was due to a majestic battle of martial arts. Some say it was an attack from another temple. Others say it was from the gods themselves."</p><p>You rose a brow at that, "What do you think then?"</p><p>"Me?", he asked amused. "Well, I wasn't there but temples don't get obliterated like that overnight. It wasn't an earthquake because the rest of the land is fine. Perhaps, it's due to magic?"</p><p>"Magic? It doesn't exist." You snorted at him. "What are you talking about over there?" Your father demanded, annoyed with all the chatter.</p><p>"He was telling me about the legend of the Anhui Province, Father."</p><p>"That is in no way relevant. Shut up, both of you."</p><p>"I apologize, Father." You said as you glanced at the man with an apologetic expression. The old man however just smiled at you. The car ride after that was coldly silent. You took your eyes off the temple and focused on the valley where opium poppy would soon be planted. </p><p>You soon arrived at a little shack. The old Chinese man helped himself out of the car. He said his goodbyes to all of you and smiled at you. "If it's calling to you, it's best if you listen to it."</p><p>Your eyes widened at that. "Wh-What?" He didn't get to reply as you drove off. Your father looked at you through the rearview mirror and rose a brow. "(Y/N), what as that? You've been talking to him for a long time."</p><p>You turned back around and composed yourself, "N-Nothing, Father. I was just shocked at the ending of the legend."</p><p>"I didn't take you as someone to be easily shocked by stories." He condemned, "If it shocked you, do you mind telling us about it?"</p><p>"This land was cursed by an evil force until a maiden saved them all. He said the maiden looked like me." You lied. </p><p>Theo laughed snarkily, "Don't tell me you actually believe that? What a childish legend." </p><p>You didn't say anything as you stared at him with a neutral face. Deep down, you were annoyed. How could he actually believe you believed it? What did your father take you for?</p><p>Eventually, you arrived at the gates of your house. Aanya opened the door for your father before opening yours. You mumbled your thanks. "I will be in my room if you need me." </p><p>"Dinner will be ready soon, (Y/N)." Aanya reminded with a smile. You deemed her as too good to be the secretary of a shitty man. </p><p>Arriving at your room, Kayden welcomed you as he rubbed his fat side on your calf. You picked him up with a slight struggle, which he noticed and hopped off in annoyance. "Jeez, it isn't my fault you're fat."</p><p>The ginger cat gave you a look, "What? You throw fits when I don't give you a kilo of food per meal." You crossed your arms. He simply turned his head away in pettiness. </p><p>"How did he know, Kayden? Was it magic after all?" You aid as you prepped your bath. Stepping in, you told Kayden as he walked into the bathroom. "Or have I become predictable?"</p><p>You snorted, "Impossible." </p><p>"I should research more about the temple, Kayden." You said after the bath. Now clad in a towel, you reached for your phone. You saw a few notifications from your friends and quickly replied. A new 'ping' came from your phone as another one of your friend messaged you. You smiled a little at the video he sent you. It was him covering a guitar solo from this one band. </p><p>Viola: That's awesome, man!</p><p>Viper: thanks !! ;)</p><p>Viper: you're in china, right? how is it? </p><p>Viola: Great! Really great. Food is bomb asf</p><p>Viper: damn. i've always wanted to visit. </p><p>Viola: You should! </p><p>Viola: Anyways, what song were you covering? </p><p>Viper: it was a collab between jagged stone and marie juana. check it out, (Y/N) :))</p><p>Viola: Ooh, Jagged Stone. The rockstar from Paris, right? I heard a few of his music and it's really good!</p><p>Viper: :0 that's a lot coming from someone who only does classical music </p><p>Viola: Speaking of Paris, how is it there?</p><p>Viper: same old. just some villains getting akumatized and catnoir and ladybug saving the day </p><p>Viola: Villains lmao? Are you playing with me -_-</p><p>Viper: oh shit, i forgot how weird this must sound to foreigners </p><p>Viper: hehe basically we have villains, like literal villains from the comic books, and superheroes to save the day</p><p>Viper: for the record, i would NOT play with you. never ever ever ever </p><p>Viper: but i know how weird this must sound to you. i heard the france government keeps the heroes at a low</p><p>Viper: ... that doesn't help at all, does it?</p><p>Viola: Nope. But for your sake, I'll believe it lmao</p><p>"Damn, I'm getting distracted." Deciding to end the conversation there, you exited Storyll and began searching up about the temple in the mountains.</p><p>"Weird, there's little to no articles about a temple in Huangshan. And if there is, it's due to a fire started in the kitchen."</p><p>Getting dressed, you searched up the same thing but in Mandarin now. There were definitely more articles now but it all said the same thing, with the exception of there being more variations for the cause such as an enemy attack or a battle, like what the old Chinese man said. "This has no correlation to me but why do I feel as though it's calling to me?"</p><p>You searched more but it all came to the same conclusion. 'This is pointless', you thought. What bothered you the most was not the fact that you couldn't find anything about the mysterious tower, but it was due to the man knowing how it was calling to you. How could he have possibly known? People at best would mistake it for curiosity. Was this the old people intuition that you often see in movies? Nevertheless, you would visit that temple before you would leave. </p><p>The problem was how and when you would leave. You were more than sure your father wouldn't permit you to travel alone and even if you asked a bodyguard to come with you, he would dismiss it as it's pointless to visit. You would be forced to sneak out. The problem was the distance between you and the temple. From your house, it seemed as though it would take hours to arrive there on foot. Travelling from the house to the mountain, climbing the mountain, and finding the temple would take at least 5 hours. And you weren't confident you could last that long. Then there was the issue of going back. It would take you at least the entire day. This wasn't feasible at all. There were so many things that could go wrong, you could get caught from coming home too late, you could slip and fall. But whenever you look at the temple, your worries were washed away and you were once again captivated by temptation. </p><p>You stared at the temple in contempt, "What would Blaise do in this situation?" </p><p>You heard a knock on the door and immediately knew dinner was ready. You opened it without a word and headed for the dining room, Aanya following your tail. Dinner was served as a gourmet seafood dinner like shark fin soup and other delicacies served by the Chinese chef that was hired by your father. You couldn't deny how amazing it tasted, you hoped you would be able to cook like this one day however you weren't allowed to cook nor did you have the time. </p><p>Dinner was silent as usual. Just the little sounds of utensils crashing against the plate and drinks being poured. You were about to excuse yourself before you heard the chef speak, "Excuse me Mr. (L/N), but would you like to try our classic liquor? It's a staple in Chinese traditions." She suggested. </p><p>"Hmm, perhaps. Usually, I would decline anything that isn't wine, champagne, or bourbon but today was quite tiring after all." Your father said as he gave you a quick glance. Forcing down your annoyance, you waited for a glass. Noticing your wait, the chef asked, "Is she allowed, Mr. (L/N)? She seems to be quite young."</p><p>"Mind your own business. It's a family tradition to have them drink at a young age."</p><p>"I-I apologize, Mr. (L/N).." She stuttered as she poured a shot glass for you as you gave her an apologetic look. It's not like you enjoy drinking; in fact, you hated the taste of alcohol but you knew if you refused, your father would deem you scared. Perhaps on a lighter note, drinking at a young age would build your tolerance, if you didn't mind the side health problems. </p><p>"Shot glass, really? What do you think of me?!" Your father shouted, scaring the chef into accidentally spilling your glass. You jumped as you felt the alcohol spill onto your clothes, the stench of it reaching your nose.</p><p>"Get me a glass and ice. I ONLY accept spherical." Your father said as he dismissed her. You could see the Chinese woman's eyes start to prick with tears. She bowed deeply, "Y-Yes, sir! I ap-apologize!"</p><p>She took off as she immediately left the house to find some ice. Your father tapped his foot in impatience before standing up, "I'm leaving. The night has been ruined. Aanya, clean up."</p><p>"Yes, sir." Aanya said as she immediately began to clean up. You watched everything with a neutral expression before sighing. 'For an adult, he sure is childish', you thought. You decided to pour yourself a glass before taking the shot. You did this two more times. From the corner of your eye, you say Aanya raising a brow. </p><p>"Out of respect." You said before excusing yourself to head to your room. You felt your throat getting warm. 'Weird, I don't feel warm this early. How much alcohol was in that?'</p><p>Taking another bath to cleanse yourself from the alcohol, you changed into new clothes again. You plopped onto the bed with a bored expression. Kayden jumped at your legs and clawed his way up to your chest. "Kayden, you're heav-" You didn't get to finish the sentence before you punched you. You heard a knock on the door and you carried your fat cat like a baby to open it.</p><p>"(Y/N), dinner for.." Aayna coughed, "Kayden."</p><p>"Thank you, Aanya. Goodnight."</p><p>Placing his plate on the floor, you called out to him. "You sure eat like a king, huh?"</p><p>Sitting down on your bed, your thoughts drifted back to the temple. How were you supposed to do this? Spend 5 hours going to the temple and 5 hours going back. You wondered if it was even worth it, but as you looked at the temple, you couldn't control your urges. You asked yourself what Blaise would do in this situation, he was never one to think things through thoroughly, things always ended up well. Follow your intuition, he said. </p><p>But you doubted your intuition was the same as his. Intuition was what he had and he learned how to trust it. Throughout your life, you only had calculations and intuitions were never in the formulas. Your father had taught you to be this way since you could speak. Your connection to your intuition was near nonexistent. You couldn't identify if this feeling was right or leading you to your doom. Your hands held your head as you thought this through. "What were the chances of me getting caught? Over 60% for sure. Chances of me getting lost? 75%. Chances of me dying? 50%."</p><p>'I know Blaise would follow the temple like what his gut feeling would've told him so. But what if this feeling is wrong? I'm not like him. Determined and passionate. But I know for sure, if I ignore this feeling, I would regret it forever.' You reached for your balcony as your instinct grew stronger. It started from your belly before moving to your back. You furrowed your brows as you glared at the fading temple, covered by the night. The only light illuminating it were the stars tonight. </p><p>You had everything to lose, from your freedom to your health. Were you really gonna risk it just for a gut feeling? You asked yourself if Blaise was more important than that. You weren't a fool to prioritize another person's life over yours. But Blaise taught you how to feel; he had shown you what love looked like so you could recognize it from abuse. He had shown you to be human when you questioned yourself if you were even one. You didn't know where he was; it had been several years since his disappearance and your constant searching fell useless. You didn't know if he had gotten away and is currently living his life in secrecy or if he was locked in a basement, being fed crumbs. Or what if he was dead? While you would've said that being dead was better than starving, he would have disagreed. If he was truly gone, he would have wanted you to continue his legacy; live for yourself. But you only lived for your father and expectations.</p><p>If Blaise was here, he would've said that this would be the chance to live for yourself. A choice you weren't forced into doing, one you made out of the free will. Taking a deep breath, you decided you would take this chance.</p><p>Your rare chance to live for yourself.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yall (╥_╥) <br/>imma have to be honest. I literally forgot i made an account on ao3, i deadass thought it was just a dream or hallucination LMAOOO I'm so sorry. this is why i haven't updated ༼ ༎ຶ ෴ ༎ຶ༽</p><p>I'm more acting on quotev cuz i don't know how to work this site out yet.</p><p>anyways thank you for reading and the kudos and hits idk what they mean</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter II - Hercules</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Bold is understood as Mandarin.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been the end of the week, and you sat bedridden. You spent the entire week gradually building up your sickness until it came to the last day when you had to stay in bed. After much convincing from Aanya, your father had finally let you stay at home for the last day. You were currently taking a thermometer for your fever, feigning a sick expression on your face. </p><p>"Mr. (L/N), her fever seems to be very high. She might have to stay in bed for tomorrow as well."</p><p>"How bothersome. You've been incompetent this week, (Y/N). I expect to see you make up for it in your activities." Your father sneered before leaving the room. Aanya stayed for a while before placing a warm towel on your forehead. </p><p>"Rest plenty, (Y/N)." </p><p>You closed your eyes, not bothering to thank her. Once she left, you laid there for a few minutes to make sure no one would come back in, you took off the towel and checked the bag you packed for the 30th time. </p><p>"Mountain hiking equipment? Check. Extra food? Check. Blankets? Check. An emergency flaregun? Check. Actually, it's embarrassing to call for help maybe I should just leave this here.." You contemplated before shoving the gun back in the bag.</p><p>You checked everything a few more times before plopping back into bed. Kayden cuddled up to your side as you tried to get some shuteye until the dawn breaks. You lay there for what felt like hours and couldn't tell whether you actually got some sleep or you were in a dream but didn't fully leave your consciousness. You didn't know how long it took but when you felt your lids become red, you knew it was time to get things ready. You grabbed the mannequin head that you "borrowed" from that one poor souvenir shop before placing it on your pillow. You bunched a few pillows and formed a body before placing a wig on the head. You made sure to apply a bit of makeup to make it seem a bit more realistic. You grabbed a note and a pen, telling your chef to leave the food on the table, and placed it outside the door. </p><p>You called out to your cat, "Kayden, please, please act like that's me. Make sure no one goes near it, okay? I'll treat you to a buffet when I come back." Kayden only gave you a grumpy stare and purred. You took that as a yes. You gave Kyden a huge hug in case you died. Deciding to text Viper and Dumbass vague messages about you potentially dying, you opened your balcony and hopped off. </p><p>Arriving at the foot of the mountain, you tilted your head back to stare at it. You felt overwhelmed having it tower over you so devastatingly. Your brain started to fill with all sorts of doubts and worries as you took a step back. You closed your fist in regret and furrowed your brows, feeling the sudden paralyzing emotion take over you. Taking a shaky breath to calm yourself down, you felt the anxieties worry little by little. </p><p>"They said baby steps but damn, it's like I ran a mile." Gripping the straps of your back tightly with your lips pursued, you took a step forward. </p><p>It seemed as though this mountain was treaded on often, the pathway on the mountain making it clear. It seemed that there were recent footsteps as well, perhaps yesterday or the day before. You felt your confidence come up a little; it seemed that people came to visit the temple a lot as well. You trudged the mountain carefully for what seemed like an hour and felt the morning sun glisten on your back. You turned your head to see the progress you've made, from the foot of the mountain, you managed to hike about 240 ft in the air. The mountain was slowly becoming steep and you knew you'd have to exhort more energy in your tiring legs. You walked for another 30 minutes, your legs becoming heavy, and was met with a bridge that connected the separate mountains.</p><p>You narrowed your eyes in doubt. Without stepping on the bridge, you grabbed the side railings and shook the bridge gently. It swayed gently, but you still had your doubts. Gathering up your courage, you walked on the bridge, gripping the sides tightly. When you were in the middle of the bridge, you took a breath and looked around you. The morning breeze blew the hair on your forehead away and the sweat of anxiety dry. You stood at the centre of the platform as you looked over the sun rising from the horizon, creating shadows behind you that flew like capes. Even at the 290 ft drop and the eerie swing of the bridge, you stood fearless. It felt like you were meant for this. At the sharp cry of a mighty eagle, you took a breath and crossed the bridge. </p><p>-</p><p>You had hiked heavily for the next hour and took a break, deciding your legs deserved the break. Currently, you were sat at the top of a large rock, eating a few granola bars. You stretched your legs for a few seconds before veering off again. </p><p>Taking out your map, you traced the progress you've made so far. You had hiked a quarter of the way and were currently about half a thousand ft up in the air. It was steep where you hiked and took much longer to cover the area than the first out. You were worried, it seemed to be nearly 8 am and you had thousands of feet yet to climb. You had guessed regular tourists camped a few nights to reach the top, but you had until the evening left. You felt your thumb scrape the side of your middle finger in an attempt to calm yourself down. </p><p>You wondered if signing up for the hiking session would've been better but you knew you'd be found out if you did that. You walked near the steps that lead to the top of Huangshan, but you were far enough not to be seen. You supposed you would pretend to be a hiker and blend in when you wouldn't see any tourist guides that had bright uniforms. You walked faster than usual and treaded the mountain. </p><p>After 3 hours of hiking fastly, your legs became tired quickly and felt it hard to breathe with the amount of pressure in the air. Spotting a family of 4 resting, you walked over and put the friendliest smile you could muster in your state. </p><p>"Hello! It's a beautiful day to hike, isn't it?"</p><p>The mother who was giving her son a bento box looked at you for a good second and smiled. "Why yes! Are you planning on reaching the top?"</p><p>You gave her a small laugh before asking if you could sit next to her child to which she nodded, "I assume that's why everyone came here, ma'am."</p><p>"Not us, little girl. We're planning on reaching about 3/4's of the mountain, I don't think our little children could handle reaching the top." The father answered. "How about you? Aren't you a little too young to be hiking alone?"</p><p>"Oh, actually I'm here with my older brother. He's just a little up ahead. He didn't want to take a break yet."</p><p>"When we're older, we'll reach the top too!" Said the little boy and his sister replied, "Mom and dad say we're too young to reach it now so we'll have to wait a little."</p><p>"Precious, aren't they?" The mom cooed and you gave your agreement, "Are you hungry, dear? We've got a few extra bentos if you want."</p><p>"Oh no, I couldn't bear to intrude."</p><p>"I insist, c'mon." The mom said as she put the bento in your hands. You thanked her and ate your meal, 'I didn't bring a meal anyways.'</p><p>"By any chance, do you know a shortcut to the top? My brother and I don't really plan on staying the night."</p><p>"My wife and I have hiked this mountain about thrice in the span of our relationship. And we've discovered that it's faster to get to the top when you take the unrailed hanging pathway. It's said to be too unstable and fragile to build a rail on it, but we sneaked our way in." The main said as he and his wife laughed.</p><p>"It took us to the peak about twice as fast as taking the railed pathway. But it's extremely dangerous, young lady. I don't recommend you and your brother to take it."</p><p>"I see. We aren't planning on taking it if it's that dangerous, don't worry. You sound like you've been together for a long time. How many years have you been married?" You asked as you initiated another conversation easily. You talked for a few minutes, entertaining the couple with little white lies. After chatting and having lunch, they had complimented you and called you a 'fun, young lady'. You left early as you told them your brother would've been worried by now as an excuse. </p><p>Jogging up the stairway, you thought about how you were to reach the peak faster. If you wanted to make it back on time, you would have to take the dangerous path. And if you valued your life, taking the railed walkway was rational. You weighed out your options and determined that taking the safe way was better. If you reached the top in 5 hours and spent an hour in the temple, you could go back to your house around 11 PM. However, that would be possible if you took only 4 hours to go from the peak to the base. And this calculation didn't include the breaks and obstacles that you would potentially come across. Your father and Aanya would be back by around 10:30 PM, and that's only if your father's meeting would be prolonged. If not, he'd be back by 8. </p><p>But you decided that you took too many risks today and your life wouldn't be one of them. You reached the pathway in 30 minutes by jogging you were faced with the two options. The safe one was railed and equipped with harnesses and guides. There were about 12 harnesses in total and the line was long. If you lined up now, you'd be the 13th person. </p><p>'Great. Just my luck. Wow.' Perhaps you could try to convince someone to give up their spot for you but you don't know if anyone would wait 5 hours for a stranger, no matter how persuasive they were. Overhearing what seemed like a group of teens, you heard they talked about taking the 'easier' way out. You turned your head to look at them. Group of 5, 3 girls and 2 boys. You wondered if you could survive if there were more of you and quickly scrapped the idea; if the pathway was too fragile to build a railway then the thought of 6 people crossing it horrified you. </p><p>You decided that if they were to cross, you'd do it first so any damage they leave while trekking would not send you to death's open arms. You heard a person hyperventilate while wearing a harness and used this as your chance to sneak in. You grabbed the helmet and ice axe from your bag and stealthily went on the dangerous path. </p><p>The entire path was complete made out of the mountain's natural stone. It was thing enough for people to cross one by one, but you would be forced to stick your back to the mountainside like glue. It didn't have any railing and the cliff path gave you the view of the land from thousands of feet in the air. You forced yourself to stop looking at the drop and prayed to whatever god that existed to forgive all your sins and guide you this one time. You felt the stares of the group of teens on your anxious back and heard distant whispers. You refused to give them any sort of recognition and slowly walked on the path.</p><p>It was just like what the old couple had said. It was fragile and unstable. Often times, you heard the ground beneath you crack and forced yourself to stay steady and calm. Throughout the 90 minutes of careful manoeuvring, you barely looked down and only looked ahead. You knew the distance would only scare you, the ice pick in your hand slipping many times due to the sweat. You had looked ahead and it seemed that the path would narrow even more. You stared at it in worry as you thought about how you could cross the narrow path. If you had tiptoed, your balance would be compromised. And if you stayed as you were, you would slip and fall to immediate death. You didn't have enough time to think about as you head the path beneath you crack once more. Cursing, you carefully changed your position to have your chest face the mountain. You walked the narrow path attentively and gently with the side of your feet against the stone. You had used your ice axe to gently prick the mountain and guide you. You had kept this up till you saw the path become wider. You were about to step on the wider path when your foot had slipped. </p><p>Your stomach dropped as gravity pulled you down. Your spine had panicked and sent every nerve in your body signals to cling onto your life. Pale, (E/C) widened as cracked lips were bitten to prevent its owner from screaming. Your body fell slowly as you watched the blue sky fading away. They say that your life flashes before your death but you were a witness to prove this was false. You didn't see any memories that displayed itself before you but maybe it's because you didn't have any worth remembering. Rather, what you felt was a numbing sensation that spread from the middle of your back to your heart; it was a fuzzy, buzzing feeling, like all your nerves' electrons felt larger than your body. Your hair flew past you and as you closed your eyes, you saw an image of a boy with dark hair and fiery eyes. You saw the sun in those eyes and in the midst of the numbing storm, you felt warmth. </p><p>'Blaize..', you thought. His image being the trigger, you willed your arm to dig the axe into the mountainside. You felt your body being dragged by the sudden force of being stopped, the momentum causing your stomach acids to mix. You looked down and watched as your feet swung with the image of smaller mountains and ravines behind it. You were hanging from the sheer strength of the pick and you felt it slip by the second. Calculating the distance of you and the wider ridge, you swung your body side to side and at the last right swing, used the momentum to carry your body through the air grabbed the edge with desperation. Not wasting a minute, you hastily pulled your body up and roughly placed your back against the mountain as you sat. </p><p>You grabbed your chest and breathed heavily, and forced down the tears that swelled up in your eyes. Closing your eyes, you tried your best to calm yourself, hands shaking as you held your chest. "....I almost died" </p><p>'I was literally about to plunge myself to hell right there. If it weren't for...' You shook off your thoughts as you forced yourself to stand on shaky legs. The path was wider now at 4 ft, but you weren't taking any chances. You would celebrate when you were on steady ground. </p><p>You had travelled the pathway for another hour and the moment you reached the ground, you collapsed. You had lost your axe on the way but you could care less right now. You stayed on the ground, curled up as you rethought your choices. Had this gut feeling really be worth hours and hours of travel and your life? And while you expected something like this to happen, expectations and reality were completely different. It had been so much worse to experience the graze of death than to think of it. You swore, if there was nothing at the end of your journey, you would extinguish every spark of intuition. </p><p>Gathering yourself up, you looked forward and saw the outline of the temple. If you were to run, you could reach there in an hour or perhaps earlier. But you were too shaken from earlier and tired from hiking. You had reached the peak twice as fast as other people, you thought that you had time to spare. You rest for a couple of minutes before walking once again. </p><p>- </p><p>You stared up at the broken-down temple. Parts of its roofs and pillars were destroyed and missing. It was run down and moss had covered almost every part of it. In its misery, you saw beauty. But before you could gawk more, you saw tourists and guides accompanying them. You ran and ducked behind a pillar, sneaking your way inside. </p><p>You looked around you in wonder. Broken down shelves and flags with evidence of arson, scattered the place. Random books in a language you cannot read were on the floor as well as tea sets and broken ceramics. Strange enough, they all had the same symbol, you supposed that the symbol represented the temple. You had explored one of the rooms earlier and found broken down closets and clothing that belonged to monks. You had found a dining room, library and a few empty spaces that seemed to be used for training. You picked up a book with the cover ripped from it and skimmed through the pages. Of all the languages you speak, this book didn't contain any of the sorts. You couldn't recognize any Greek or Latin as the letters were written in lines that were parts of a square. You found that the letters were similar to Russian and the Philippine Baybayin if they were to be written like traditional Chinese characters, which were written vertically. </p><p>Your fingers traced the picture that was on the page. It was a picture of a woman clad in robes and she seemed to be in a fighting stance. From your understanding, it seemed as though this book was telling a story. You skimmed through the pages again and found a plain picture of just black. It was a huge picture of just the dark shade with not a dot of colour in it and even though it went through wars, there was not a scratch on the colour. The picture took up the majority of the page and at the bottom of it was a phrase made up of the unique characters again. You rose a brow at this. </p><p>Deeming the book important, you placed it in your bag and explored once again. Although the entire temple was interesting and nothing like you've seen before, none of it was worthy enough to risk your life for. You were slowly growing upset; you risked your life for an abandoned temple that you could've just read about. The gut feeling that pulled you so strongly here suddenly disappeared, as if it was telling you that this was the place you should've avoided the most. </p><p>Passing by two large doors, the feeling you swore you'd kill sparked up once again. The feeling had reached your neck and you shivered at its intensity. It had never been this strong before. You almost couldn't take a step. You turned back around and stared at the doors. Whatever had been calling you were behind these very doors. You opened the doors gently, making sure not to alert anyone. </p><p>You closed the door behind you and stared at the room in confusion. There was a shallow pool at its centre and the yin-yang symbol consumed the entire bottom of it. There were two pegs that stood in the little circles of each side. There was nothing special except for that but your intuition was gravitating you to the pool. You didn't even realize you were walking till you felt the bottom of your pants were wet.</p><p>"What the?" You exclaimed. You looked down at your wet pants and cursed. You were about to get out of the water before you noticed something glimmer at the bottom of the pool. There was a crack in between the tiles at the centre of it and something was hidden inside. Letting your curiosity take over you, you walked closer, feeling the force of the water push against you. You realized that you couldn't see it any better and you would have to pry the tile away. You bent down and tried to pull apart the tile but it wouldn't budge. You would have to submerge yourself in water.</p><p>Sighing, you sat down behind the crack and pulled strongly. You felt it budge a little but it wouldn't be good enough to get whatever was stuck inside. You turned back the to the front and kicked roughly the tile away. You did this a few more times before you could finally see the item. It seemed to be a dark box but its image wavered in the water. You kicked a few more times before the crack became big enough for you to take the box. You quickly snatched it and got out of the water. </p><p>You sat down against the doors, wet and tired. You glared at the box, "This better be worth all the trouble.."</p><p>You opened the box and a blinding white light surrounded the room. You closed your eyes to block it out and when you opened them again, you almost shouted. Your body stood up quickly and placed as much distance between you and the creatures. You looked around for a weapon and found a broken wooden beam, you quickly picked this up and tried to swing at the flying rats. </p><p>"Hey! Stop swinging at us, you damn brat!" Said the black one while the lighter one politely asked you to stop. </p><p>"What are you?!" You said as you tried to swat them to death. </p><p>"We would tell you if you stopped, ma'am!" Said the lighter one.</p><p>"Ma'am?! What the fuck?" You said as you stopped swinging. You took a look at them, they had stopped flying around. Using this to your advantage, you swung again at the speed of light. Your weapon had hit the lighter one, but it just phased through it. You dropped your weapon in shock. </p><p>You let out a deranged laugh, "Am I already dead..?"</p><p>"Crazy one, innit?" The darker one laughed. "Don't be rude now, Hei."</p><p>"Rats have names now..? Oh, I get it. I died when I fell from the mountain and this is hell." </p><p>"We're not rats, ma'am." One said politely, "Yeah, we're gods."</p><p>"Rats as gods? What kind of hell is this..?" </p><p>"Oh, for Kwami's sake! We're gods, not rats! Are you dumb?!" The dark one said. The lighter one was about to speak but he interrupted once again, "Is this pathetic human going to be our new owner? I'm horrified."</p><p>"I'm sorry for him, ma'am. I understand that you are scared, but if you let us explain, maybe you won't have to be." The lighter one said. </p><p>They were weird creature; they were about as small as half of your palm. They had bald heads and had identical bodies. They had fins at the side of their heads, arms, and tiny legs. They had fish-like tails. The lighter one had a white body and its fins glistened in silver sparkles. It had black scleras and white irises. The black one, on the other hand, Kuro, had a black body and its fins glittered in the light as well. Kuro had white scleras and obsidian eyes.</p><p>"I'm Bai and this is Hei," Kuro grunted with his arms crossed, "and we are Kwamis!" Bai said with a smile.</p><p>You narrowed your eyes at them. "I know that you are suspicious and that's completely understandable but know that we will never harm you because you are our new owner!"</p><p>You gave them a face, "What."</p><p>"You're not the only one suffering here." Hei said. "We're basically gods, born out of the creation of a new concept, and we can give you powers." He continued.</p><p>"Right because powers exist." </p><p>"Well, we're here, aren't we?" Bai said. "And you aren't dead, ma'am."</p><p>"Stop calling me that." </p><p>"Then what is your name?"</p><p>"Not telling you that."</p><p>"Geez, woman. What is your problem?"</p><p>"The powers we can give you is the power of Neutrality and the power of Variation. If you want to activate your powers, just say, 'Kuro, Shiro, fins on'. With the </p><p>"You've gotta be shitting me." You said, deadpanned. "I'm so done with you," Hei said but he seemed to be done with everything. You pondered if you should use these 'powers'. You had your doubts but you came here and risked your life, what else could you lose?</p><p>"Fine. Hei-"</p><p>"Uhm, you have to put the accessory on first! Ha! Fool!" Hei laughed at you and you were severely tempted to swat him away. You heard Bai reprimand him as you walked away to pick up the slave bracelet. Silver chains connected the bracelet to the middle ring. At the middle of the bracelet marble of white and black, but looking closely you spotted cracks on the marble. It seemed as though white and blank ink were barely mixed. Although they swam against each other, not a shade of grey was found, they were completely separate. You put it on and strangely enough, they sat perfectly on your skin. You glared at the stupid Kwamis and exclaimed, "Hei Bai, fins on!"</p><p>Bright light covered the whole room as you transformed. You opened your eyes and you could suddenly see everything so clearly, from every detail in the room. You looked at your fingers and were covered in what seemed like black leather. Your nails had become sharp. The gems of the bracelet had transformed into two koi fish circling each other in a transparent fluid. They were like Hei and Bai, both of opposing colours. But each fish had each other's colour on its head in the form of a circle. You looked down at yourself and found your entire body covered in the same fabric. You had white elegant, leaf-like fins on your arms and calves, contrasting the dark suit. You ran to the pool and saw yourself in the mirror.</p><p>Your body was covered in the dark leather except for your shoulders and a portion of your collarbones. The halter turtleneck connected itself to the mouthguard you had at the bottom of your face. Your ears had turned into white, sparkling fins and another layer of white fins were behind it. Your eyes were black and (E/C) hues contrasted themselves against it. The white fins you had on your suit blended from black. You turned around and sure enough, the top was backless to an extent, just enough to show off the tattoo. You noticed the white bow without its strong that magically sat at the back of your hip. You grabbed it and made an act of shooting and a white glowing arrow and the bow's string magically appeared itself before you. You almost dropped the bow in shock but composed yourself. You shot the arrow at the poor wooden beam and watched it get destroyed to splinters. The arrow was stuck in the ground before disappearing away in smoke. Your mouth fell ajar.</p><p>"So those Kwamis weren't lying.... and I'm not crazy," You mumbled, "or dead."</p><p>You noticed a screen on your bow and found it crazy. You scrolled through the screen and found your contact number that was different from your own. You furrowed your eyebrows at this. You came across what seemed like an information sheet. You read through it mentally and saw the power section. You wondered why the fuck there was an information sheet for being a hero but okay. You read through it and found out your powers. You also knew that your physical abilities were enhanced significantly and that you would transform back to your civilian form 5 minutes after using the superpower. </p><p>"Well, let's test this." You said, walking up to a shelf and punching it. Upon contact, it had broken down. You stared at your fist in shock. You grabbed your bag and sneaked out the temple. You bent down and jumped several feet in the air; biting down your scream, you focused on landing. Nevertheless, you landed roughly against the rocks. You were now away from the temple and at this rate, you could make it back to the house several hours before your father. Using this to your advantage, you jumped.</p><p>-</p><p>Upon arriving at your room, you quickly hid your bag and the mannequin head. Kayden had kissed upon seeing you but calmed himself after realizing it was you. He rubbed himself against your leg and clawed at yourself as if making sure it was you. "It is me, kitty."</p><p>"Hei Bai, fins off." You felt yourself transform back and immediately crashed on the bed. You signalled the Kwamis to eat the food placed on your table. "I'll get you guys better ones later... I'm tired."</p><p>"This one's a rich kid, huh?" Hei said as he examined the room. "Hey kid, you still haven't told us your name. I think we deserve at least that for giving you powers."</p><p>You mumbled your name, too tired to think. "What was that?" Bai asked.</p><p>"(Y/N). (Y/N) (L/N)."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>is there a way to attach photos on here like quotev? cuz I've got reference photos for the bracelet and suit ;-;</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter III - Norma</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Weeks had passed since your trip in China and you've used your Miraculous for about 3 times in the span of it. You only ever used it to test the powers you had and only when you were in secluded places. You couldn't risk getting caught and being under government surveillance because you wanted to play the hero. Although you barely used it, you talked to your Kwamis often and bonded fastly. Although, you never fully trusted them because earning your trust would take decades, no matter what they are. Bai remained kind as always while Hei would often tease you, being the reckless runt he is. Kayden had gotten used to them as well; he went from hunting them to letting them rest on his chubby white belly, something even you weren't allowed to do. </p><p>In the meantime, you had gone back to your school duties and were fairly busy due to your father scheduling you for tiring activities that gave you little free time throughout the day. He had been especially stressed and took it out on you by shouting a lot, especially since he had just fired Aanya for a minor flaw. His secretaries had never last but Aanya stood by his side for the longest. You applauded her and even made sure to check up on her often. </p><p>You currently sat in your school's meeting room, reading through each member's proposal on the upcoming field trip each class would have. You sectioned a paper that had suggested a field trip to China, not wanting to go back. You were in the 10th grade and was the secretary of the student council, although more times than not, it felt as though you were the president. You were confident in your ability to lead the council, despite being in 10th grade only; you carried these motherfuckers on your back. </p><p>You discussed the field trips for a few more minutes before you heard your phone ring and excused yourself. Picking up your phone, you were met with an immediate, "(Y/N), we will be picking you up in 5. You still have Economics at 6."</p><p>Shit, you were too occupied with the field trip that you forgot about your tight schedule. "Right, thank you for reminding me." You ended the call and came back to the meeting to announce your departure. You gathered your things and waved your members goodbye. You walked towards the gates and saw your group of friends. You jogged a little and called out to them. You chatted with your squad for a few before a black luxury car came in view. You waved your friends goodbye once again and entered the car. </p><p>You were immediately taken to your class and spent an hour of watching adults try to explain why capitalism was beneficial and watched as socialists and communists debate over which system was fit for the US. They talked about boring topics that never interested you but participated in anyways. Being the youngest in the class, attention was immediately on you but it wasn't the type of attention people wouldn't like. You were used to being belittled for being so young and being a woman in the class, but your pride was higher than your interests. You immediately took Economics seriously and frequented in debates. That era was over now, majority of your classmates and half the teachers saw you as equal; and although you wanted everyone to be on your side, you didn't want to exhort too much energy on a class that was filled with future McDonald employees that used to consider themselves superior because they knew a thing or two about money.</p><p>You finished class early today and left the class with empty smiles. Upon reaching your room, your face fell from all the fake pleasantries and your defined cheeks hurt from keeping its muscles up the entire day. You shooed the Kwamis away from your desks and immediately started working on your schoolwork. </p><p>"Huh, how much you wanna bet she's planning on running away, Bai?"</p><p>"She's just tired, don't bother her.... but 50 pounds." </p><p>You turned your head to glare sourly at the twin fish, "Not now, losers."</p><p>"HA! Losers, me? Never. Bai? Eh, maybe. But me? Pfft, little lady, I am a god."</p><p>Bai simply rolled his eyes and flew to a plate on the table that held a wagyu dish on it, knowing you guys would get into another argument. For the good part of the balance, he sure was insanely pretentious. He only ever ate expensive foods like wagyu. He would also refuse to eat the same thing 2 days in a row and would get bratty when he did. Hei munched on his lavender-infused chocolate. He, on the other hand, wasn't picky but preferred lavender, honey, saffron or passionfruit flavoured foods. </p><p>Deciding to ignore them, you focused on your schoolwork until you finished it. Checking your watch, you saw that you still had time before going to bed. Using this time, you gently woke Kayden from his nap and smirked at his grumpy stare. "C'mon, kitty. It's time for a bath." Kayden immediately went back to sleep but you picked him up anyway. </p><p>"What the? Have you grown heavier? I've seriously gotta get you a dietician." You skillfully avoided his sharp claws. You reminded yourself to trim them soon. You gently placed your fatass cat in the filled bathtub and began shampooing him. Knowing your Kwamis were behind you, you scooped some water in your hand and threw it at them. </p><p>"Hey, I almost dropped that!"</p><p>"That was rude, (Y/N)."</p><p>"I'm glad that I've established my dominance in our relationship." You said snarkily. You gently poured water over Kayden as he stared at the wall sleepily. If the Kwamis weren't watching, you would've cuddled this cute motherfucker by now. You wrapped the fluffy towel around your wet kitty and rubbed him dry. His orange fur fluffed up and he glared at you before going back to sleep. You escorted your little creatures to the tiny beds you bought from a Barbie set, and turned the lights off. </p><p>The next morning, you got ready for school and repeated your daily routine. School, student council, extra classes. This cycle would continue every day, except for weekends when your schedule became tighter. When classes were cancelled occasionally, you would lie and test out your powers in a secluded place. And this was one of those moments, except you sneaked out to sit atop of the Big Ben and overlook the entirety of London. </p><p>You watched as city lights outshined the night's stars and left the sky in a state of oblivion. Golden lights merged with silver and left your eyesight in images of blurred hues. Rich men's boats glided peacefully on London's rivers that reflected each person's souls in its waters. Rippled forms of skyscrapers and Ferris wheels sought themselves in the limelight of people's eyes as they stare at the river. Vaguely, you could see civilians walk along the platform and little children frolic in their oversized coats. (E/C) hues were juxtaposed on the changing colours of the wheel and saw as it echos throughout the entire city. </p><p>It was moments like these when you wondered if you had led a different life, would you have had the time to appreciate London like the way you do now? Would you have noticed how a bee pauses for a split second before landing on a flower? Or the way petals detach themselves slowly and fall? Living your life suffocatingly despite the riches never gave you the joy of appreciating little things such as the warmth of a fire or the embrace of a friend. But you knew how other people would've killed to live your life and so you constantly wondered if you were allowed to feel this way. Not wanting to think about it, you shook your head and reminded yourself to be thankful. </p><p>You stood at the top of the tower for another 15 minutes in solitude before carefully scaling down, anxious someone might've seen you despite your suit blending in with the darkness of the night. </p><p>-</p><p>You hadn't expected suitcases to be packed when you came home. Several maids were bringing suitcases-- that you recall were yours-- down the massive staircases. You theorized that you would be going on another business trip with your father, but you couldn't see any of his suitcases.</p><p>"Are father and I going on another business trip?"</p><p>"I am afraid he's not coming this time, Miss (Y/N)"</p><p>'Did that roach finally pass?', you wondered. "Why are my suitcases the only ones packed?"</p><p>"We do not know, Miss. It's best if you call your father; we were only tasked to pack your clothes."</p><p>You rose a brow at this and left for your room. Upon reaching it, you say a couple of maids gathering your clothes and items and folding them. Closing the door, you walked to the library. You pulled out your phone and dialed your father. You heard the ring for a couple of times before you picked up.</p><p>"Fath-"</p><p>"I'm sending you to Paris, for a while. A business partner of mine, Gabriel Agreset-- you know him-- requested you model for his current collection along with his son."</p><p>"I see. How long will I stay for? The maids seemed to have packed for everything."</p><p>"For the rest of the year. Gabriel's collection will be bigger this year and spans from Fall to Spring. It will be good for the business, we don't have much influence in Paris after all. Your flight is scheduled for 6 AM, tomorrow. I won't accept any objections."</p><p>You heard the beeps of the phone before turning off your phone. You stared emptily at your reflection in the obsidian gadget. You observed the subtle tires lines on your face, noticeable despite the concealer you applied. (E/C) eyes traced the iris that dulled the longer you stared at it. Sighing tiredly, you went back to your room, it being free of maids now. </p><p>When you were in complete solitude, the duo of Kwamis came out from under your school blazer. Your eyes refused to meet them and ignored the rubbing of Kayden on your leg; grabbing the nightdress on your bed, you went to the bathroom. Turning on the shower, you felt the warm water drip on your bare body. Closing your eyes, you felt the water droplets hit the back of your eyes as you clenched your fist. You thought back to your father and to what he constantly told you, digging your nails into your palm. You opened your eyes and looked down on your palm, lethargic eyes tracing the crescent marks. </p><p>"I dug deeper than usual.." </p><p>You felt calmer than before and continued your nightly routine. Emerging from the bathroom, you saw Bai sadly munching on the Pule cheese. Hei quickly caught your eye but looked away as he nibbled on some cupcake. You felt irritation bubble up inside you again as you noticed the emotion in Hei's gaze. Grabbing the towel around your shoulders, you pretended to throw it at him, snorting at the expression on his tiny face. Hei glared at you as you laughed at his demise. </p><p>"You almost made me drop my cupcake!"</p><p>"Yeah, yeah... that was kinda the whole point." You said nonchalantly as you plopped on your bed, phone in hand and a smirk on your lovely face. "You brat! I hope both sides of your pillow are soggy and warm!" He said, miniature fist raised,</p><p>"Wooh, I'm so scared." You said, sarcasm saturating your voice, glancing at him for a second. You heard Bai try to calm his counterpart down as you texted your friends about your situation. You lied about some parts but nevertheless, they were sad to hear about your departure. You would've said the same if they weren't fake and constantly sucked up to you to be in one of your father's magazines.</p><p>You rubbed Kayden's ears as you gathered the Kwamis in your other hand. Looking down, you said, "I'm sorry for that," You giggled, "I'll treat you to 20 of Paris' best pastries when we get there. And you," You motioned to Bai, "to Paris' best restaurant."</p><p>Bai cheered as he wrapped his tiny arms around Hei's body, whom grumbled and looked away. "Okay, shoo now. we gotta wake up early." Bai nodded as he turned off the light and went to bed. </p><p>You laid in silence for a few moments before whipping out your phone. Your eyes strained and squinted at the bright light that shone from it; cursing, you set the lighting down before texting one of your friends.</p><p>Viola: I know you're still awake.</p><p>Viper: that, i am. who sleeps at 9?</p><p>Viola: Not you, for sure.</p><p>Viola: Hey, I got some questions.</p><p>Viper: shoot ;)</p><p>Viola: How is Paris like? Always having to get terrorized by villains?</p><p>Viper: oh, you believe in them now?</p><p>You snorted at this, 'Well yeah, I got powers now.'. You texted back, "Well, I asked my other friends in Paris. And all of y'all said the same thing. Perhaps the entirety of Paris is playing a prank on me." He had sent a laughing reaction meme before responding.</p><p>Viper: naaahhhh, people here are too prickly to be playing jokes. </p><p>Viper: well, it is tiring. it happens like 4 times a week </p><p>You grimaced at this. Viola: Do people not move out?</p><p>Viper: i bet plenty of people have thought of moving out. including my family and i</p><p>Viper: but paris is home to a lot of us, as corny as it sounds lmaoo</p><p>Viola: I find that adorable. </p><p>'Not really! How am I supposed to live a peaceful life when every day consists of getting hammered by villains?!'</p><p>You had conversed for what seemed like an hour, smiling as the topics went by. The convo had ended when you told him you'd be sleeping soon and him calling you a loser after that. You carefully rolled over, not wanting to disturb Kayden but he woke up anyways and slapped your leg in return. You whispered a quick 'sorry' and stared at the ceiling. You wondered about your life in Paris and how chaotic it would be. Constant fighting and disruption would make your life a living hell. You were a very organized person and strict with plans and the perpetual akumatization would piss you off immensely. Then you'd have to worry about the thought of getting akumatized; your chatmate had told you only people with intense negative emotions were akumatized. And although you kept your cool most of the time, there was a constant fire burning inside you, dormant or active. This fire wasn't one that burned with passion like Blaize's, yours burned like bubbling lava that vowed to devour everything in its path. The fire would simmer down and come to life in intervals but you always knew how to control it. You wondered in Paris would be the breaking point to the shallow mountain you kept your fire in. </p><p>You carefully got out of bed with extreme caution of Kayden and headed to the balcony connected to your room. You overlooked the forest that surrounded your mansion. You've always wondered why your father chose such an eerie place to live in, this is where most characters die in. The moon fell silent in hushes tonight and refused to show herself, which  was fine, you supposed. She had the sparkling stars that surrounded her. You had connected them and found a few constellations. You hadn't caught yourself smiling till someone had pointed it out.</p><p>"You look peaceful when you smile like that." </p><p>You immediately whipped your head and caught Shiro looking at you, white eyes staring. "You're awake." You acknowledged.</p><p>"Who sleeps at 9?"</p><p>You thought nothing of it till you saw the teasing smile on his face, "Why do you read other people's conversations? It's rude"</p><p>"It's also rude to pretend to throw your towel at someone." Shiro responded, flying closer to your face. </p><p>"Touche." You exhaled. "But mine was funny." </p><p>"Touche," He responded and giggled. You both fell in a comfortable silence and stared at the stars. </p><p>"I think Paris will be fun," He said after a while. You snorted at this, "Where's the fun in possible death?"</p><p>"Not when Kuro and I are here."</p><p>"I'm not using your powers."</p><p>Shiro never responded, knowing it was better to argue with a wall. You fell in silence again and this time it had tension. You couldn't stand it and decided to turn in for the night.</p><p>"(Y/N)," Shiro voiced out, "...it's okay to feel whatever you feel."</p><p>You stayed in your spot for a few seconds before returning to your bed, leaving Shiro to stare at your back with a hurt expression. He glided through your room and slept in his bed. That night, he had dreamt of you. </p><p>-</p><p>Boarding the jet with Kayden in a cage, you finally felt your eyes relax. You just had to wake up so damn early in the morning and it wasn't like you had any good sleep last night too. You heard one of the flight attendants ask you for any necessities and you simply told her to bring in the breakfast early with desert, to which you noticed the slight frown on her face when you said that. 'Stupid healthy bitches, it's MY life.'</p><p>She had come back with a tray full of breakfast and then left. Your Kwamis had come out of their hiding and stared at you like puppies who had been kicked. You paused the fork that held a piece of sausage in the air, "Why are you guys staring at me?" You said weirded out. But came no reply. </p><p>You had stared at them for a few seconds and sighed, "You can eat too, y'know? I'm not like that." You said, slightly offended they thought you were pretentious enough to not let them eat at the same time as you. </p><p>They both gave big grins and eat what they liked. When you were all finished, you rang the button that called for the flight attendants and had them take away the tray. Kayden immediately jumped on your lap and curled in on himself, with you petting him. You watched as the plane's wing moved through the blue sky seamlessly. Shiro and Kuro napped at the little pockets on the seat, mindful to respect your space, which you felt guilty for but shook off anyways. You'd be in Paris soon; after all, the UK wasn't that far from France. 30 minutes before landing, you hid your Kwamis and called for an attendant to deliver you some snacks, which you gave to your cat and Kwamis. </p><p>You passed through the airport smoothly and arrived quickly at where you were supposed to stay for the remainder of 10th Grade, Le Grand Paris. You were greeted by the mayor of Paris, Andre Bourgeois, and his seemingly fuming daughter who has stomping her feet in defiance. "BUT DADDY!" You heard as you walked towards them in elegance.</p><p>You politely greeted the mayor with a handshake and offered your hand to the blonde daughter to which she only wrinkled her nose in disgust and refused to acknowledge. "Get your gremlin hands away from me. Ugh, and she's got a fat cat, too." She said as she stared in disgust at Kayden.</p><p>You only smiled in return and heard her father apologize, "I am deeply sorry, (Y/N). My daughter is just iffy about personal space. I'm sure you both know each other, you've met when you were young after all." Andre apologized with his hands up and a nervous smile on his face.</p><p>"Yeah, but like barely." She said as she walked away from you with her nose up.</p><p>"Please try to understand her, (Y/N)." Her father pleaded with you. </p><p>"Don't worry, sir. Although we've met a few times, I understand." You assured him. "Your room will be on the 6th floor of my hotel, the staff will guide you. I apologize, it was the best I could do, Chloe refused to share her room."</p><p>"It's quite alright, sir. I'm lucky to even be staying at your hotel. It's one of the best after all." You complimented with a smile. </p><p>"And that's all thanks to your father!" He said as he ushered you inside the hotel. You stared at the lobby with fake enthusiasm, "It's gotten more luxurious since the last time I've been here."</p><p>"Sure is!" He bragged, "Don't forget to go to school, it's starting in a while." </p><p>"Oh, yes. How could I forget?" 'Fuck, I completely forgot. Jeez, dad. I literally just came from the airport. You even refuse to give me a break, huh?'</p><p>"You'll be riding with Chloe for today, but you'll get your own limousine after," He said nervously, "I'm sorry, again, my daughter is just claustrophobic." 'Right.', you thought.</p><p>You had entered your room and let Kayden out of his cage. You quickly grabbed the school bag you packed the night before and changed rapidly. You rushed in combing your hair and looked at your outfit one last time. White soft, fleece cropped jacket, with (F/C) lining the front pockets, collar, and cuff of the sleeves, and a black, silk bow wrapped around the collar. Matching high-waisted skirt that tightened slightly at the hip and flared at the thigh. White laced socks and ankle-high platform boots. You decorated the outfit with accented jewellery. You placed the slave bracelet on your dominant hand and headed outside.</p><p>A butler opened the limousine door for you, and you were immediately met with Chloe's ranting. "Ugh, what took you so long?! We are going to be late and my first late mark will be because of YOU. This is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!"</p><p>"I apologize, Chloe but school isn't starting for another 10 minutes." You said as you tried to pacify her. </p><p>"But I'm usually in school 20 minutes before the bell rings!" She said exasperated. She then went on and on about how she had to share her limousine with you, of all people. Then that changed to her ranting about how she had to share her hotel with you. "You're not even a celebrity! Ugh, you shouldn't even be near my hotel." She grumbled.</p><p>Before you could reply, her door opened and she stomped to school. 'Damn, if I didn't have a reputation to keep, I would've squashed that little brat.'</p><p>You followed her and was met with the principal who strangely looked like an owl. He introduced himself as Mr. Damocles and led you to your classroom. When you entered the room, the class advisor stopped checking the attendance and beckoned you to come in. "What?! I have to share my house with you and now we're classmates?! This is unbelievable!" You heard Chloe say as she saw you come in. </p><p>You ignored her and listened to the advisor as she told you to introduce yourself. Someone waving their hand caught your attention and you turned your head slightly to see a fairly familiar face. Chartreuse eyes with specks of emerald and dream-like golden hair. Oh, look. It's Paris' sweetheart, Adrien Agreste. Putting on a smile, you softly waved back.</p><p>You noticed the obvious reaction from the girl sitting behind him. She glared at you with painfully beautiful bluebell eyes and arms close to her chest in a strange, animated manner. A fangirl, perhaps? (E/C) flickered to someone sitting at the back. Neatly cut auburn hair and slanted olive eyes. She gave you a smile far too similar to the ones you make. Giving her one too, you waved back.</p><p>'Oh dear, this is gonna be a tough year...'</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Status: Unedited</p><p>I've decided to be editing the past chapters because I do have this awful tendency to post chapters write after I read them, because I cringe at my own writing. I've also been busy with school the past few days, sorry for the late update.</p><p>I also forgot to mention that this is a slowburn-ish book and will most likely contain a lot of chapters. Hopefully not too much tho hehe. I also got to stop writing long ass chapters smh. Oh and if you want a reference for your outfit, just search up those Chanel-esque two piece skirt set! </p><p>Thanks for the kudos, reads, and hits! &lt;3</p><p>what are skins</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter IV - Apus</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You were currently chatting away with Alix, Juleka, and Rose. Words easily flowed out of your mouth and the sounds of their laughter filled the vicinity of your table. You watched intently as Rose's laughter left her mouth, small creases formed at the corners of her eyes and your hues drifted from the pixie-cut blonde to an ebony-haired teen. You observed as tawny chromas gleamed with bliss, trained on the laughing girl. Beside you sat the pinkhead, elbow propped on the table and hand holding her round face. She snickered and covered her growing grin with another hand.</p><p>Juleka and Rose were predictable people and you would often bring up topics you knew they'd enjoy. Alix, on the other hand, you genuinely held an interest in your relationship. She often reminded you of yourself when you weren't being fake and nice: witty, honest, and words were held with slight cruelty. You changed the topic to a certain rockstar and watched intently as Rose immediately lit up. She raised her fist below her chin and gushed about how he was her favourite singer and "the greatest artist to have ever lived". She blabbered on and on about how he was ahead of his time and how very few people appreciated his greatness. From the corner of your eye, you saw Juleka talking about him as well but in quieter tones. Alix, who sat beside you, rolled her eyes and slouched. Your ears picked up at her mumbling at Rose's chatter.</p><p>"How about you, Juleka? What are your hobbies?"</p><p>Juleka opened her mouth but Rose cut in, "Oh, her. She's really interested in modelling, y'know? She's sooo pretty when her bangs don't cover her face! I would fall in love with her." Rose gushed again with a dreamy expression. Somehow, you didn't doubt her exclamation. "Rose!" Juleka said in hushed whispers, "you can't just say that!" She said embarrassed.</p><p>"You're interested in modelling, Juleka?" You asked intrigued. She immediately denied and found it hard to meet your intense, curious gaze. "I could hook you up with a photographer and you could start building up a portfolio.", you suggested. </p><p>"No, no, no.. that's too much trouble. Plus, I don't think I'm good enough to be a model anyway.. so there's that." She said, shoulders deflating the same speed as her self-esteem.</p><p>"I'm sure you're good enough, Juleka. You just lack confidence," you said, "think about it this way, you don't think you're good enough because you see yourself in your eyes but have you ever thought about how other people see you? You're tall, slim, and pretty; I bet you could do runway, if you tried."</p><p>"What if other people don't see me the way you do..?"</p><p>You snorted at that, "Ask anyone here and they'll agree with me. Well, except for Chloe. We all know she only sees value in herself." You said mischievously and Alix laughed along with you. "What's with you and her, anyway? She said you're sharing houses. Actually," She said, poking a finger at your chest, "what's with you? You came to school waaay too late." Your optics caught the mischief dancing in those blue eyes.</p><p>"Yeah, what's with that, (Y/N)?" Rose said, wrapping her arms around Juleka's. </p><p>"My father and Chloe's father are close friends. I'm currently living with her because of my Father's job!", you said chirpily. "Must suck, huh?" The short-haired tomboy snorted. </p><p>"I give her the benefit of the doubt.", you paused. "sometimes." You all laughed at that.</p><p>You felt someone tap your shoulder and turned your head to see the familiar tall, blonde boy standing charmingly. Beside him stood a brown-skinned boy with headphone around his neck. "Hey, (Y/N)!"</p><p>"Adrien," you acknowledged fondly. Standing up from your table, you stood in front of him and used your hand to compare your heights. "you've grown." you said bitterly. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away, embarrassed. </p><p>"I remember being taller than you when we were kids. And I would bully you endlessly for it." You said teasingly, arms crossed. "Well, now that I'm taller, I could do the same." You smirked and rose an eyebrow at this. 'He teases now? I remember he would just tear up whenever I teased him. Change is good, it's good.'</p><p>The fine hairs at the back of your stood up as you felt several pairs of eyes lasered on you. You didn't have a doubt that it was his army of fangirls. Deciding that having a bad reputation this early on was a wrong move, you turned your attention to his friend. "Hey, are you his friend? I'm (Y/N)." You introduced yourself grinning, hand held out for him to shake. You felt him grappled your hand with enthusiasm and shook it fastly. You kept the smile on your face as you felt him rip your arm out of its socket. "I'm Nino, my dudette. Are YOU his friend? Cuz any friend of Adrien is a friend of mine!"</p><p>"Well, we met a few times during our childhood days. Our fathers work together." </p><p>"We're friends, Nino." Adrien said looking at him with his eyebrows furrowed and a smile on that gorgeous face. </p><p>"Mind introducing us to this friend of yours, Adrien?" A brunette with glasses said, walking towards us while seemingly dragging that bluenette friend of hers. It was the same girl who glared at you when you waved to a certain heartthrob. When they finally arrived, you could clearly see the girl now. Even when she stood a little behind her friend and refused to look at you, she was immensely beautiful. You observed her onyx hair that shone blue in the light and looked for those sapphire hues. Her hair fell perfectly on her heart-shaped face and contrasted greatly against her rosy-fair complexion.</p><p>"Oh, Alya, Marinette. This is (Y/N), we hung out a lot as kids!" Adrien said, hand on your back as he introduced you to them. You followed Marinette's laser gaze on his hand. You took out your hand and shook Alya's. You waited for Marinette to shake yours as you smiled at her. When she didn't shake it for a second, Alya not so discreetly kicked her in the shin, causing her to stumble towards you with a squeak. You put your arms below you to catch her but she had accidentally hooked her ankle around yours and brought you down. Adrien, the unfortunate soul, was behind you and cushioned your fall. </p><p>Your eyes closed for the impact for a second. You heard Adrien moan in pain and opened your eyes. Those same bluebell eyes stared back at you and you stared intently as they shook slightly. Azure eyes shifted from yours to the one below you and her fair face blew up in red. She quickly scrambled away and you got up as well, offering a hand for an aching Adrien. "Are you girls okay?", he asked. </p><p>"Are YOU okay?" you asked, laughing. He made a grunt and shrugged his shoulders. "I-I'm so sorry, (Y/N) and Adrien! Clumsy me. No! I'm real- really clumsy." She said nervously laughing, twiddling her fingers. You laughed as you placed a hand on her. "It's fine, I get it. We all get clumsy around..." your eyes switched to Adrien, knowing Marinette was watching you. ".... someone cute." (E/C) optics shifted back to hers and winked teasingly. You walked back to your table and grabbed your bag, strutting towards class. You heard Marinette's scream of confusion as Adrien asked her what had happened.</p><p>-</p><p>When class was finished, you headed for the library, wanting some alone time. You went to the furthest corner of the library and opened your bag, immediate monochrome eyes staring at you. You looked at them straight-faced. </p><p>"That girl is weird as hell," Hei commented and Bai smacked him with a tiny hand. "Don't be mean... she's just.. unique"</p><p>"Yes, unique. And oddly obsessed with a boy." You said, deadpanned. "But those girls were really nice." Bai smiled. You heard chatter enter the room and roughly shoved your Kwamis back in your bag and grabbed a random book. You flipped through the pages and found a random paragraph. Hmm. Yes. How to build a chair. Very interesting indeed. </p><p>"Now we can get going on our history homework. It's so much more fun doing it together, don't you think?" You heard a sultry voice say. Secretly peeking over the bookshelf, you saw that auburn-haired girl again with Adrien, looking insanely uncomfortable. The girl gasped and snatched a book away from him, "What's that?"</p><p>"A book about superheroes," the blonde said nervously. "I love superheroes." She replied, grasping his hand. You scrunched your nose at this. Damn, could she be any more obvious? You heard the sound of a cart wheeling away and saw Marinette not so discreetly hiding behind a bookshelf. 'Jeez, scratch that. Could SHE be any more obvious?'</p><p>You rose a brow as you caught glimpses of the book. A lady in red with black spots all over her; strangely, she looked a lot like a certain bluenette. "(Y/N), I know I don't have a right to ask you this, but could you get a closer look at the book?", you heard Bai whisper. "Why does it matter?", you said annoyed. "If you look closely, they have the same writings like the one in the temple." </p><p>"Oi, (Y/N), I can confirm that it's the same as the one in the temple," Hei said, levitating close to your ear. "You didn't-"</p><p>"Oh, but I did," He said, arms on his waist and grinned mischievously. "You could've been found out!", both you and Bai whispered at the same time. "Uh, yeah. I kinda do want to be found out? The bad guy remember?"</p><p>"Kwamis aren't evil, Hei." Shiro said pointedly. "Both of you can argue later when I have the book." </p><p>You cringed as a cart wheezed past the table and crashed, effectively distracting the vixen and the cat. Marinette quickly hid under another table. Your eyes trailed to the girl's foot as she pushed the book that fell into the table. 'Sneaky, isn't she?', you thought as Adrien excused himself. You waited for the girl to turn back around before silently moving to the entrance of the library behind her back. You pretended to come from the entrance as you purposely harshly bumped into the girl, causing both of you to drop your books. Never-moving eyes laser-focused on the mysterious book, you grabbed it and held out a hand for her to take. "Hey, I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there, are you hurt anywhere?"</p><p>You observed the snarl that sat on her face for a split second before getting the book and taking your hand. "I'm not hurt anywhere, don't worry!", she laughed in her high-pitch. "By the way, you're the transferee, right? (Y/N) (L/N)? I'm a transferee too!"</p><p>"Ah. I didn't get your name actually," you said smiling with both eyes closed, knowing it irritated her, "Lila. Lila Rossi! What are you doing here in the library?"</p><p>"I was planning on returning this book!", you said, grateful both books had the same brown hard-bound covers. "No way! I love reading too! We should totally hang out. I think we'd get along really well!", Lila said as she placed a hand on your shoulder and smiled. "That sounds totally awesome. Are you free this Saturday?" </p><p>"Totally! Here, give me your phone and let's exchange contacts!", you willingly gave her your phone as you initiated a conversation. You talked for a few more minutes before exchanging goodbyes. With her back turned away, you dropped your smile and you bet she dropped hers too. Sitting at a table in a corner, you observed the book. Indeed, it was from the temple; the same symbol marked in gold sat atop it. You flipped through the pages with your Kwamis on either side of your shoulder. Your brows furrowed as you couldn't understand anything and the creatures besides you fell silent too.</p><p>"I assume you guys don't know this language." Hues piercing through Hei, whom only flew close to the tip of your nose. "Try harder, brat. You can't intimidate gods." Rolling your eyes at him, you didn't bother asking Bai knowing you'd get the same response but in a nicer way. And that pissed you off more.</p><p>The only clue was the pictures that were on the book; images of men and women in clothing and gears that resembled animals. You easily connected the woman in red and the man in black to be Ladybug and Cat Noir in another life. Or perhaps, it was the same life. You didn't know. Remembering the book you took from the temple, you deemed this one important as well. Taking your phone, you took pictures of several pages. You chased off Lila, not wanting her to be suspicious. </p><p>You recall them heading to the park and not to your surprise, there sat Lila and Adrien. With Marinette behind a trashcan, with her head obviously peeked up. You made a face at this, "Damn, how is Adrien so blind to not notice the obviously human head right in front of him?" From the corner of your eye, you saw the gods rigidly shrug. Telling them to go back to your bag, you approached the duo, book in hand. Well, that was until a red hand stopped you. You traced the hand back to its owner and before your very eyes were the Paris' superhero. "Ladybug,"</p><p>"Watcha got there, dear citizen?" She said with curiosity but laced with slight desperation. "It's Lila's book, the brunette by the bench, I was supposed to return it to her since she dropped it.", you said sheepishly. "Well, let me return it to her. I was on my way, anyways."</p><p>Raising a brow, you suspiciously gave her the book. "... okay. Can you tell her to return the book she currently has? We accidentally exchanged."</p><p>"No problem! Have a good day, go along now!" The superhero said, gently pushing you away from the scene. You allowed her to do so in confusion and watched as she used a yo-yo to bring herself and swing around buildings. 'She really is real, huh?' You thought as you knew yo-yos could never be that long and carry the weight of a full person. Your eyes trained back to Adrien and a crying Lila, who were now joined with Ladybug. You'd be lying if you said you weren't satisfied with how Lila was crying. You shifted your eyes to the side and found Marinette to be nowhere. "Huh, I wonder where that little weirdo went.." </p><p>- </p><p>You stared at the falling meteorite as it slowly determines the fate of Paris. Body stood facing the dangerous shooting star, knowing something was very off. If a meteorite this big were to land on Earth, any civilian space program would've informed Parisians of the incoming rock, yet no signs were received. No matter how fast it went, a warning would've at least been made. You watched tight-lipped as a heroine flew before the meteor and stopped it with her bare hands. Your suspicion grew as you watched the meteor almost touch the peak of the metal triangle and it not melting or heating up the slightest. Being near the architecture itself, you felt no searing heat. You watched unimpressed as the heroine threw back the meteorite with her 'strength'. She jumped up on the top of the museum and declared herself to be the only superhero Paris needs. You observed the citizens around you as they chanted her name like blind sheep.</p><p>"You guys sure do switch up fast against one of the superheroes who rescue your sorry asses every day, huh?" You said under your breath. You walked off as you tried to find those superheroes. "Aren't you gonna save them, (Y/N)?"</p><p>"Nah, those superheroes got this."</p><p>"Lazy, aren't ya?" Teased Hei. You scoffed, "Please. From what I heard, Paris has been through worse than this. What's a villain with fake powers gonna do?"</p><p>"The least I can do is tell those superheroes.", you continued.</p><p>"And where would you even find them?"</p><p>You saw a building crack in the distance. "There." You ran as fast as you can and grabbed a pebble on your way. To your left, you saw Ladybug being surrounded by missiles and Paris' self-proclaimed hero stood before them. "Ladybug!", you shouted as loud as you could. Her head snapped to you with despair as she saw the building fall. You threw the pebble at the falling debris and confirmed your theory. "It's an illusion! She can only make illusions!"</p><p>You watched Volpina's enraged expression, "How did you know?!"</p><p>"A meteorite that close to metal would've melted it and everyone would've felt the heat. A villain of the fox? I'm sure everyone knows the fox resembles trickery." Your eyes sharpened and a wicked smirk sat on your face, "This is child's play." </p><p>Intense (E/C) hues watched as Ladybug used her yo-yo to destroy the missiles and Volpina. She nodded at you before swinging off. "Well, my job's done." </p><p>"Using us would've been easier. You're doing too much," retorted Hei. </p><p>"And be obligated to save this city? If I show up once, they'll be expecting me again. And if I only show up when Ladybug and Cat Noir are in trouble, I would be deemed as shallow; only taking my job seriously if others don't."</p><p>"What's our purpose then?", asked the lighter one.</p><p>"You're better off with me than a random person. At least you both know I won't use you for evil." They fell silent after that and you didn't wait for them to speak once more as you ushered them back to your bag and headed for a class scheduled by your father. You carried your feet to an elegant looking building, gripping the handle of your bag with tension. Fine (H/C) eyebrows furrowed up in annoyance and a scowl sat on your glossy lips. With a heavy sigh, you put on a smile and entered the place. "Welcome to Paris Marais. How can we help you?", said the receptionist. You told her your name and she led you to a room. Upon entering, you were met with a classroom of boys and girls clad in skintight uniforms. They all stopped their synchronized dancing and turned to look at you. "YOU ARE LATE!"</p><p>You almost let yourself jump at the loud voice and eyes crossed to stare at the pointer finger at the tip of your nose. Laughing nervously, you apologized. "I deeply apologize. I was caught in an incident with Volpina."</p><p>"That doesn't matter, andouille!", you refrained from raising a brow, "ballet will always be above everything else!"</p><p>"I-... I apologize once again. It won't happen again."</p><p>The ballet instructor zoomed near your face and looked at you literally eye to eye, thick arched eyebrow raised. "Everyone has three strikes. This is your first one; 2 more and you're OUT!" He emphasized with his index and thumb pressed together. You simply nodded and went to the changing room. "God, he's one of those," rolled your eyes, "you guys, stay here. It'll only be for an hour."</p><p>"What are we gonna do in your bag? Sniff your pencils?" Hei remarked. "Yeah, make sure to sharpen them too. Bye-bye." </p><p>Changing into the skin-tight uniform felt incredibly uncomfortable. In contrast to your superhero costume, this one felt stuffy and itchy. The (S/C) nylon of the stalkings and sleeves felt intolerable against your skin. The fabric was wrapped around you with such tightness that it felt like your own skin. Even if you were fine with the image of your body, you felt strangely exposed and naked despite almost every inch of it being covered. You sighed as you put on your points, lacing the satin fabric against your ankles. You turned your hair up in a bun and dragged yourself through the door. </p><p>You did basic poses and exercises for the rest of the hour. Through it all, you felt eyes peering holes through your back and you knew the only person who would've actually done that was none other than Mr. Basset. The lanky man mostly stood with his arms crossed and would scream at the students who make one little mistake. You hid your annoyance and put plenty of effort to not receive the same treatment. It went well until the last few minutes of class when you accidentally landed unbalanced and fell. The class had fallen silent and stared at you as you got up, forcing down the eerie crawling of embarrassment on your back. Your entire back suddenly felt exposed as if it weren't covered in fabric and the arms on your hair stood up. You mentally prepared yourself for the screaming that was to come. Keeping a straight face, you slowly faced your instructor. Statuesque face observed the steadily growing red that came up his neck. Mr Basset closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Onyx eyes snapped open but before he could utter a word out, someone barged in. </p><p>"A new akumatization! Everyone, you know the drill." You quickly blended with the rest of your peers to evade the oncoming storm. You followed the herd as they headed for a large break room, big enough to hold a hundred people. You immediately headed for the back and sat down on the benches. You felt someone nudge you with an elbow, you turned to look and saw hazel eyes staring at you. "Y'know, don't feel too bad about messing up back there. Most of us did worse and got a lot of backlash. You were pretty lucky." The random boy assured you. You let yourself smile, "He's still pretty scary though."</p><p>He chuckled at that and folded his arms, "You're not wrong," He paused and smiled at you, "Hey, what's your name? I'm Alaric."</p><p>"(Y/N)," you replied. "Thanks for cheering me up." He laughed at that, "Kind of my job here. Called the 'ball of sunshine' or whatever the fuck that means."</p><p>You scrunched your nose, "Sounds like something that came out of a corny fanfiction."</p><p>"Indeed." You faced him with a teasing smile, "Oh? Did you just admit you read fanfiction?" </p><p>"I'm not ashamed to say that I do." He said while smirking back at you, "What kind of fanfiction do you read?"</p><p>"Classified," you said arms crossed. "But if you're that desperate, I read angst. What do you read? The Reader type?" You snorted at him. He made a face at this, "No. Weird. I read a variety but yes, angst is indeed superior."</p><p>"Man of taste, I see." You said jokingly as you pushed his shoulder, "That, I am." He winked at you. "Do you know who got akumatized, by the way?"</p><p>"No idea. Too busy preparing myself to get screamed at." He breathily laughed at this before tapping the shoulder of a random person, forearms on his knees. "Hey, do you know who got akumatized?"</p><p>"Gabriel Agreste, apparently." Your eyes widened at this. The person who was the sole reason for your bringing here was akumatized. "Do you know why?", you butt in their conversation. The girl shifted to look at you for a few seconds and you prevented your eyebrows from furrowing in awkwardness. When you rose a brow, she snapped out of her state and stuttered while blushing. "S-Sorry, I don't know what came over me. But, u-uhm. No. That type of information isn't really shared unless you were an actual witness." You thanked her and she immediately put her attention to the front. </p><p>You felt Alaric nudge you multiple times, "Looks like someone likes you," he whispered against your ear to which you turned to look at him and brought your noses to brush against each other, "I often have that effect on people," you looked at his lips before staring into his eyes, "Are you gonna be one of them?" </p><p>Alaric felt himself get hot and moved away from your face, hand tugging at his skin-tight uniform. "How conceited." You smirked at him and felt your ego inflate. 'Look at me, establishing my dominance once again.' You kept a relaxed expression but your thoughts turned serious. You wondered if you should see what would happen to Gabriel or stay in place like you should. Paris' guardians could very well defend Paris all on their own, but you'd have to admit you were slightly worried that they'd be worn out after just fighting a villain. </p><p>After contemplating for a while, you sat back and initiated another conversation with Alaric, watching his hazel eyes lit up. You were sure Ladybug and Cat Noir could've handled it; they've always had. They didn't need an extra hand and you didn't want to be obligated to this city. Perhaps you'd come another day.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Status: Edited</p><p>This chapter is pretty filler but I want to take it slow and not rush MC's development. I'm also thinking of making my paragraphs to be more descriptive and fill it with imagery. Not too wordy though, I hate books like that.</p><p>Also, my story will be following the plotline (not the entire thing) but if the story caught up to the end of season 3, and season 4 still isn't out, the story will be up to me. I won't be following episode for episode because that's repetitive. Also gonna be making my own villains huehue</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter V - Dorado</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I've decided to switch Shiro's name to Bai and Kuro's name to Hei, because yin and yang are in fact Chinese and it was wrong for me to change it to Japanese. I apologize for that.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Days had passed since the Agreste situation and Paris quickly got over their shock of a famous designer being akumatized. You had expected them to still be stupefied in discontent but when you'd asked around, plenty of prominent icons of the City of Love had been akumatized: from its own Mayor to its famous rockstar. The more you dove into the topic, the more you had realized how depressing Paris was. From its surface, humans all over the world glamourized it like an authentic pearl necklace. People glorify and marvel at its appearance, thirsting for its price and history behind its making. Paris was oversaturated with culture and aesthetics, but as you dove into the heart of it, its people were tired. Tired from constant villains and their lives at stake. Tired from the anxiety that maybe even Ladybug's miraculous couldn't bring back lives. </p><p>You watched from your marble balcony clad in a plush ivory bathrobe. Stroking Kayden, you observed the grand Eiffel Tower and your hues traced its golden lights. Your eyes went over the details of the Romanesque houses along Rue Scribe. Muted-coloured cars passed by the street and night shift workers on their motorcycles delivered pastries. Sounds of working cars and the faint music of classical piano filled the nightly breeze. It was the weekend and Lila's promise of hanging out fell short. After her villain arc, she dropped out of class saying she decided to study abroad, but you knew that sly fox was still living within the vicinity of Paris.</p><p>Although you were sure you were out of Marinette's hitlist, that didn't register you as friends. Perhaps when the weekend has passed, you would try to get closer to her and show her you had no interest in your childhood acquaintance. You had tried approaching Chloe as well although she would usually insult you and storm off. During your stay in her house, she only ignored you and when you crossed paths, would turn her head and upturned nose away. Juleka, Rose, and Alix gladly accepted you into their little group but they often hung around Marinette and you'd exhaust yourself trying not to make every conversation awkward. Adrien was busy as always and you weren't that close with Nino. You hadn't made friends with the rest of the class as well. Paris felt lonely, even with a lot of people.</p><p>Although there was a certain person, who also coincidentally lived in Paris, that proved to be a good friend for the past few months of chatting. Or at least, that's how he presented himself to be. It was harder to observe people through texts than it was to do so in person, where facial expressions and tiny movements existed. Detecting people's intentions were inevitably much harder this way and that pissed you off. Or rather ignited an all too familiar emotion in your chest. You despised playing on an uneven field, especially when the enemy was unpredictable. The feelings of not being able to decipher and predict someone's actions intimidated you. </p><p>You sighed as you scrolled through your contacts, replying to some old friends whose messages slowly declined the longer you stayed in Paris. You clicked a certain profile and opened his messages, sending you some violin songs he'd like for you to cover. You had been wondering how to tell this certain person that you were currently living in the same city as they were since you never had the time to do it before actually moving here. You've been blowing it off and kept telling yourself you'd do it later, only to find out you never really did it. You supposed that this person might forgive a little more if you told them today, even if it was late, than have them see you around the city. Ignoring the subject, you typed. </p><p>Viola: You up?</p><p>The man in question didn't wait a second as immediate speech bubbles showed up. You were amused at this. </p><p>Viper: yeah, just strolling through the streets of paris</p><p>Viola: Where?</p><p>Viper: currently in champ de mars rn :DD</p><p>Viola: No, where did I ask?</p><p>Viper: i- </p><p>Your friend sent a sad cat emoji. Snickering at this, you told him you were joking. </p><p>Viola: Near the Eiffel Tower, right?</p><p>Viper: yep, hbu? watcha doing?</p><p>Viola: In bed. It's too dangerous to be walking around at this hour.</p><p>Viper: pshhh, i live near its fine</p><p>Viola: Hey, can you do me a favour?</p><p>Viper: go ahead, my musician</p><p>Viola: Ugh, stop saying that. Can you take a pic of the tower for me. It looks beautiful in the night</p><p>Viper: fine but if i die, this is on you. </p><p>You conversed with him for a few more messages until you went back into your room and changed into a decent attire. Kayden pawed against your shin as if asking you where you were going. "I'm surprising a friend, fatty kitty." You felt his fangs stab you as he nipped at your ankle. You flinched and glared at your mischievous cat. "Going off to meet your secret lover?", teased Shiro in a gentle voice. "What a romantic rendezvous.", the other said bitterly.</p><p>You paced back to your balcony and saw the tower in the distance. By the time you got there by cab, he would've already taken the picture. And you couldn't sneak out of the front entrance, you'd be caught in cameras. You felt yourself shiver as two pairs of eyes looking at you. Your eyes constantly shifted from the tower to the Kwamis, an unsure expression on your face. "It's night, no one will see you."</p><p>"They'll probably mistake you for Cat Noir anyways. Use it to your advantage." You heard the sound of one Kwami slapping the other. Your phone made a sound and saw your friend's message. He informed you he was near the tower. You sighed as you grabbed a black hoodie. "Just this once," you looked at them pointedly. They both looked at each other. "Shiro, Kuro, fins on." you said in a tone filled with regret. You felt your body tingle in the coldness as you transformed. You looked at yourself in the mirror one last time and put on your hoodie before jumping off.</p><p>You'd be lying if you said this wasn't fun. Jumping from building to building was exhilarating. The feeling of jumping high and the feeling of it coming down was addicting. It almost felt liberating. For once, in this identity, you could be who you ever pleased. And the offer was extremely tempting, but you were wise enough to weigh out the consequences. Jumping off one last building, you quickly found an alleyway and untransformed. You caught your slightly tired Kwamis in your palm and gave them the treats you brought along with you. You gently stuffed them in the pocket of your hoodie and sauntered off to the tower. Spotting a familiar jet-haired boy, you snuck up behind him a few feet away and put your phone on silent. </p><p>Upon seeing the photo he messaged you, you said out loud, "The tower really is beautiful at night, huh?"</p><p>When a certain black-haired boy heard your voice, he slowly turned around, turquoise eyes widening once he saw your face. Your head tilted to the side and an eyebrow raised as you smile at him. "Are you gonna keep sta-"</p><p>You let out a loud 'oomf' as your body collided with his, firm arms wrapping tightly around the curve of your waist. Your nose roughly bumped against his shoulder, signalling a rushing pain up the bridge of your nose. Your eyes closed in pain but you forced down the tears, allowing your arms to hug his upper back. You leaned your forehead on his shoulder as he burrowed his face in your neck. You stayed like that for a few seconds before he pulled away, embarrassed. "Sorry, I don't know what came over me.. Did I hurt you?"</p><p>His voice had been huskier than you expected, "Not in any way, don't worry about it," you waved him off with a chuckle. He had only been staring at you and the atmosphere slowly went awkward. Deciding to do something about it, you asked, "Do you go around taking pictures of the Eiffel Tower for strangers often?"</p><p>He chuckled at this, "We're not really strangers, now are we?"</p><p>"Depends on your definition of strangers, Luka." </p><p>"Strangers don't know each other. I'd like to say we know each other pretty well," He winked at you. </p><p>Breaking out laughing, you linked your arms together and pulled him as you walked, "C'mon, pretty boy. Let's get you home. You did go out and take a picture of the tower just for me, after all." </p><p>"Wait, wait. How about you? It's more dangerous for a girl to go outside at night," he said, fine eyebrows furrowed in worry. "I've got my driver waiting outside the park. I'll be fine," you replied, grinning. "You came all the way here just to take me home?" Luka deadpanned.</p><p>Crinkling your nose, you replied. "Ehh, pretty much." </p><p>"When did you even arrive in Paris?" He asked, staring at you with those teal eyes. "Just recently. I haven't had the time to inform you, I was busy unpacking," you lied easily. "Why'd you move?"</p><p>"Due to my dad's work," He smiled at you softly, "And, are you liking it so far?"</p><p>"The city's intimidating but it's easier with a friend around," You winked at him and he laughed at that. "Um, I also don't know where you live so we've been walking aimlessly for a while now."</p><p>You stood silent with each other for a while before the boy with dyed tips burst out laughing. Your shoulder shook slightly as you grinned at him, watching him wipe a tear from his eye. "C'mon, silly girl." He grabbed you by the hand and ran, you assumed to where he lived. You laughed with him as you ran together. Upon arriving at a boat, you stared at it in wonder. "Damn, do you live here?"</p><p>"Pretty cool, huh?" He said, hands on his waist looking up at the sail. "Do you, like, travel around the world or something?"</p><p>"My mom used to, but she settled once my sister and I were born," He smiled at you. "I'll wait for you here until your driver picks you up."</p><p>You easily waved him off, "He's not too far off. I'd feel guilty if I made him drive all the way here," Not wanting to hear him try to stop you, you waved him off as you walked. "Text me!"</p><p>When you'd walk out of his line of sight, you summoned your Kwamis and transformed once more. Slipping on the hoodie, you jumped the night away. </p><p>-</p><p>You waved at your classmates as you entered the room, most of them waved back but Chloe still refused to look at you, nose turned the other direction. You sighed, you'd talk to her somehow. You smiled at Marinette as you passed by her row and sat at the very back, chatting it up immediately with Juleka and Rose. You snickered as you heard Rose tell one of her crazy stories once again. She had volunteered for an animal program this time and got chased by a flock of bees. The trio dispersed as your advisor began checking your attendance. Miss Bustier immediately began her lecture about literature, this time about a novel by Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote. You pulled out your tablet just like anyone else and started writing down your notes. Class droned on for about an hour and you found it extremely boring, literature being one of the subjects that bore you. You mindlessly listened to your advisor as you wrote down your notes. Once the class had ended, you almost let out a 'finally' before gathering your things and headed out of the class wth your friends.</p><p>It was currently break time and they gave your class about 15 minutes of relaxation before drowning you all in boring subjects once more. Your little squad headed for the vending machine underneath the stairs and hung out by the benches for a while. You chatted with them about random things, elbow propped on the back of the bench, legs crossed and a soda in hand. You spotted Marinette and Alya coming from the distance, noticing your stare, your girls smiled and waved them over. You saw Marinette look away with a sigh for a moment before facing front, hands to her chest with a determined expression, eyebrows furrowed and petal pink lips pulled into a pout. "H-Hey, (N- (Y/N)!" she laughed nervously.</p><p>"Hey, Marinette. Are you guys here to get a snack?"</p><p>Ayla nodded eagerly at you, "Yep, although Marinette might be here for something else," Alya elbowed her friend suggestively, eyebrows wiggling. You followed the reddening bluenette's gaze, to your far right stood the famous Adrien Agreste. You made a 'fair enough' face and laughed at her. "Go say hi to him," You suggested.</p><p>"You don't mind?" She said confusingly before realizing what she said and slapped a hand to her mouth, "S-Sorry, I didn't mean it like that." You made a face at her, "Why would I?" </p><p>"Well, I thought you liked him.." She said scratching the right side of her cheek. You almost spit out the soda you had in your mouth, you tried your best not to cough as you forced it down your throat. Your usually lovely face felt so ugly with the expression you were making, "How in the hell did you come to that conclusion?"</p><p>"Well... you were childhood bestfriends so..." She said, twiddling her fingers. "I knew him for a total of 5 seconds during our childhood," you deadpanned. "Well, not really. But, point still stands. I don't know him well enough to like him, Marinette." You watched her as she lit up and Alya patted her back with that iconic 'I knew it' expression of hers. "Go for him or whatever you wanted to do. I don't really care," You said as you looked at her with your eyebrows furrowed up and a serene smile on your face. "Is that why you were so hostile when we first met?" You teased.</p><p>"I-I wasn't hostile!" She insisted, "Oh, really girl? If I recall, you were glaring at her really hard during her first day." Marinette struggled to explain herself as the 4 of you laughed. "I'd be really scared if Mari looked at me that way," said Rose. "Never let a man get in between friendship, ladies. We, women, are better than that." You said with a teasing smirk. </p><p>"Yeah! Hoes before bros!" Alix suddenly exclaimed. </p><p>"What the fuck." You said before laughing. You heard the other girls laugh as well. You watched as both Alya and Marinette laugh in joy as well. You smiled a little to yourself, you knew you weren't on the bluenette's hitlist anymore. You made sure to make that point come across as clear. You watched as Alya's eyes crinkle at a joke she made towards Marinette and slapped her on the shoulder. Your nose exhaled a breath of laughter as you watched the aforementioned girl rub her shoulder. The five of you were returning back to class with Marinette and you at the back. There was that feeling once again, the foreign feeling you've never listened to. Intuition. But this time, the instinct was laced with calculation because you knew you made actions that would lead up to this moment. You felt the tug of your wrist when Marinette requested you to face her. "I-.... I just wanted to say sorry.."</p><p>You rose a brow, edging her to explain but deep down, you knew what she wanted to say. "I'm sorry for glaring at you like that... it wasn't cool. And you were still new. It wasn't my place to judge you so early."</p><p>"Oh... so, you did talk crap about me." You watched in secret joy as you saw Marinette fluster herself. You waved her off, "I'm just teasing. Don't worry about it, Marinette. It isn't a huge issue," You grabbed her arm gently as you walked the stairs together, "Besides, fighting over a guy is kinda embarrassing. Over a guy I don't even like." You laughed quietly. </p><p>"C'mon, we're gonna be late."</p><p>The rest of the day went smoothly from switching in between classes to conversing with friends. Along the way, you had finally met and introduced yourself to the rest of your classmates. Mylene was an absolute sweetheart and out of everyone in your class, you definitely didn't expect her to be dating Ivan. Ivan was brash and loud, quite the opposite of Mylene, but you supposed they balanced each other regardless of their differences. Nathaniel was an extremely shy person and kept to himself most of the time. You would catch him drawing on his notebook multiple times and when called to answer, would stutter out a wrong response. Another interesting duo in your class were Kim and Max. The typical jock and the nerd. Initially, you expected Kim to be the one to relentlessly bully the other, but in reality, they were insanely close. It was a strange type of dynamic that you've never seen before, but you paid it no mind. Paris truly gave you new perspectives.</p><p>You heard the bell rung and started gathering your things. Planning on inviting both Alya and Marinette to a hang out sesh, you walked over to their table, waving at them. They hadn't heard you, however, too invested in whatever was in Alya's phone. Raising a brow, you looked over their shoulders. "What's got ya'll so invested-"</p><p>Your eyes widened at the picture on the phone screen. The familiar image of the silent obsidian sky, several neoclassical buildings stood upright and the moon shone brightly. A figure painted over the background, in the painstakingly familiar black hoodie, flew up above the buildings as she jumped. "Wh-where did you get that..?"</p><p>"Some person uploaded it on the net, they speculate it's a new hero," Alya replied, voice in excitement. "It's probably just Cat Noir doing stupid things again..." Marinette said as she rolled her eyes. "But it's not!" Her friend insisted.</p><p>"See, if you zoom in a little closer," Alya said as she zoomed into the figure's head. "they have (H/C) hair! Cat Noir is blonde!" Alya emphasized as she gushed, "Look, (Y/N)! This person also has (E/C) eyes!" You almost stammered as you nodded your head nervously. "AND! My last evidence for concluding that it isn't Cat Noir: this person, whoever they are, has black scleras. Black." She emphasized once more as she looked between you and Marinette. You knitted your eyebrows as an awkward smile was on your face, "What if Cat Noir can willingly change his appearance? He's a superhero with the power to destroy, changing his appearance must be child's play."</p><p>Alya looked deep in thought as she placed a hand underneath her chin, "Perhaps. But we've never seen him do this before..."</p><p>"Maybe he wanted to keep it a secret? Maybe it's just a section of his power and he isn't ready to reveal all of it yet because it might cause more destruction?" You reasoned with them, trying your hardest to deter their minds. Alya almost looked convince but Marinette's face hinted that she needed more. Calming your thoughts, you said once more.</p><p>"Both of you are aware that Ladybug has 2 powers, right? The Lucky Charm of creation and the power to de-evilize akumas," Alya and Marinette both nodded, "Hypothetically, if Ladybug represents creation and Cat Noir represents destruction, that means they must balance each other out. And, if we go by that logic, that means Ladybug or rather, creation currently trumps destruction because of the inequality of powers." Alya edged you to go on,</p><p>"But if by the law of nature that both sides must be equal, then that means Cat Noir also has another power in order for it to be equal. And, in this case, it might be to change his appearance. What can one do when they change their appearance? Play as the president, act as the principal, or even infiltrate organizations. Jobs that require destruction from the inside." You concluded as you intently watched Alya thinking it all over and looking at you with admiration. "You're really good with theories, (Y/N). Maybe if you tried hard enough, you'd find out Ladybug and Cat Noir's identity." </p><p>"WHAT?! That can't be possible," Marinette exclaimed suddenly. "There's noooo way Cat Noir would lie to the public like that! Even for him, it's... too much!" She said in frustration. "What about Cat Noir, Marinette?" A gentle voice came from behind her. </p><p>Recognizing the voice, she screamed his name, "Adrien!" Stumbling onto Alya, she stuttered, "Wh-What are you doing here?"</p><p>"Oh, well. I heard you were talking about Cat Noir and he's my favourite hero, after all." Blushing, he clarified, "Of course, Ladybug is better.." You rose a brow at this. 'A crush on Paris' heroine, huh?'</p><p>"Y-You like Ladybug?!" Marinette suddenly stood up, "W-Well, yeah. Doesn't everyone?" You watched her visibly deflate and rose a brow. You shrug it off as Adrien suddenly acknowledged you and Alya. You waved back at him with a closed eye smile. "Well, anyways!" Alya said, "You know about the picture going around recently of 'Cat Noir'," she quoted with her fingers. "going around? Well, I think that it isn't Cat Noir but in fact, a new superhero."</p><p>Adrien's green eyes widened, "Can I see the picture, Alya?" Handing over her phone, Adrien observed the photo with a tight mouth. "But, (Y/N) thinks it's just Cat Noir's secret power." At the visible confusion on the blonde's face, Alya continued, "She thinks that if creation and destruction must be truly equal, Cat Noir has to have another power just like how Ladybug can de-evilize akumas! She theorized that he could possibly change his appearance."</p><p>"That can't be, right..? Why would Cat Noir even do that?"</p><p>"Maybe because it's a power that he thinks is too destructive?" You said convincingly. "Anyways, regardless if this is true or not, only Cat Noir can prove it. I think it's just best to drop it-"</p><p>"No way! I've gotta put this on the ladyblog!" Alysa said as she immediately started typing on her phone, "What?!" The three of you screamed. You all looked at each other and smiled awkwardly, "I don't think it's good to do that, Alya," Before she asked, you continued. "If my theory is true, then he must be hiding it for a good reason. If we expose him now, we might ruin his plans, which might potentially save us in the future. Let's not rush things, yeah? Let's just believe in his timing." You said, coaxingly. You managed to convince both Marinette and Alya to believe in your theory or at least think it over. Adrien had excused himself for his fencing lessons, leaving you no time to observe his reaction. You secretly scratched your thumb with your pointer finger, trying to calm your thoughts.</p><p>You knew you shouldn't have transformed that night. Your previous actions led you to your current predicament and you didn't know how to get out of this one, except for somehow forcing Cat Noir to change his appearance which you don't know if he could. The other way was to constantly lie and create enough alibis for all of them to match up and get the question that a third hero existed off. But you knew from experience that too many lies would just lead to your downfall in the end. You've learned how to regulate your lies but as of now, you wondered if you took it too far. A miscalculation. A flaw. You narrowed your eyes and excused yourself from the room. </p><p>-</p><p>"Bye-bye, little butterfly."</p><p>Ladybug said her iconic line as she once again saved the night of Paris from a villain once again. She raised her fist to meet with the fist of her partner before making sure the akumatized person was okay. Helping him up, she made sure he was okay and had no injuries. Hearing the beep of her earrings and of Cat Noir's ring, she glanced at him with a serious face. "Meet me at the tower, Cat. We've got something to discuss."</p><p>Charmingly, the boy bowed to her as one would to a princess, "Your wish is my command, M'lady," He winked before using his stick to propel him into the air. Ladybug's bluebell eyes watched him intensely as a tight frown was on her face, doubts clearly plaguing her usually calm head. At the second beep of her earring, she brought the victim back to his house before using her yo-yo to swing her to an undiscovered alleyway. The night hid her well as she detransformed, catching the Kwami fall in grace. Grabbing a petal pink macaroon from her purse, she fed her friend. </p><p>"Cat Noir wouldn't lie to me, right, Tikki?" She asked in doubt, the theory of her new acquainted friend still freshly engraved in her mind. Her lips were pulled into a frown, "We're partners... he wouldn't." </p><p>"I don't think he would, Marinette. Your friend might've just made a really good theory but it doesn't mean she's right," she said as she tried to console her. "Only way to find out then."</p><p>Marinette transformed once more as she headed off to the Eiffel Tower. Elegantly climbing up the poles, she met with her partner. She watched as his curious green eyes greeted hers. "M'lady, I wonder why you called me out tonight. Perhaps you've decided to finally be more than partners?"</p><p>"Real funny, Cat," The heroine said as she sat down next to him. They watched Paris in silence as both heads were plagued with thoughts. One plagued with doubt and the other plagued with accusation. "Cat... you haven't been hiding anything from me, right?"</p><p>"I would never, Ladybug!" He immediately said. However, instead of genuine belief, his immediate reaction only flared alarms in her head. "Is this about the picture that's been going around?" In her silence, he took that as a yes. </p><p>"You know I would never use my powers for self-gain. If there had been a villain at that time, I would've called you, M'lady." He said softly. "Alya... that reporter, told me that you might have a secret power." </p><p>"I don't, I swear! She came to ask me too and I had asked Plagg if he offered more power than what I have but he also said I didn't." The man in black said as he looked at his partner, "I don't know how to prove it to you but you'll just have to take my word for it, Ladybug." </p><p>After moments of staring at him intently, the teenager sighed, "Okay, I'll believe you, Cat."</p><p>Her partner sighed in relief, "I was worried for a second there! But whoever made that theory sure is smart." He said worryingly and his lady had agreed with him. "Yeah, it makes sense as well.. their explanation, I mean."</p><p>With both people still worrying over the one who made the theory, they thought of her and became cautious. Surely, she wasn't a bad person, right? To them, it seemed as if she was genuinely interested in the superheroes and would make theories often. They felt, all of a sudden, naked in their skin-tight costumes as if they've been exposed. Chills went up against their spine as they thought of the capability of their new classmate. Inquiring eyes and calculative thoughts were a sudden threat to them, their identities and the entirety of Paris.</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter VI - Perseus</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been several days since the photo was spread around. In the few hours of its prime, the image had gone viral, shared upon by multiple until the whole of Paris or perhaps France knew. A plethora of theories was made upon the picture, some far-fetched and some as complex as the lie you told. You had searched perchance the whole internet and as much as it could offer for your theory, however as promised by Alya, nothing was found. Some people, however, had very similar theories to yours and that quite grew in popularity. But as days passed and Cat Noir addressing the photo, everything had died down. Paris was quiet once more.</p><p>You'd breathe a sigh of relief once everything became calm. After that incident, you knew Paris had eyes and ears everywhere. No matter where you were, someone would always be watching. And that felt like the lock that kept your freedom and spirit in chains. Somehow, despite your father's absence, it felt as though he was here; watching; demeaning; degrading. The champagne flute in your hand glistened in the prime of dawn, reflecting sunlit rays onto a portion of your face, shining on your (E/C) gems. If someone were with you, they'd say your eyes looked like one of Duartes' paintings; different shades all in one colour; monochrome in its beauty. If someone were with you, they'd say your eyes held the world in all its essence in them.</p><p>Perhaps it was too early for liquor, it had been 9 in the lethargic morning. But you supposed you deserved a break, a little treat. Finishing the last sip of champagne, you got dressed and ready. In rare moments, when your schedule was free, you'd just find yourself staring at the wall for hours and sitting silently. A rare moment of silence was hard to come by in your life, but when it did, you were confused. You spent almost every second of your life being preoccupied with something and when things go quiet, you were left with nothing but your apathetic thoughts. You've spent hours just living in your head, but it wasn't imaginative nor was it a daydream utopia, it was silence and oblivion. In your mind, was the state of nothingness. </p><p>But you supposed if you were to spend the rest of your days with your head in a dust storm, you'd spend it somewhere else other than your room. Urging your cat to wake up, he rubbed his eyes with his paw and stared at you once again with a grumpy expression. Sometimes, you felt as though this cat was too human to be a... cat. He understood you and knew your expressions and often times showed expressions too human to be in a cat. You'd seen memes and videos of human-looking pets, you shrugged it off and thought your cat was one of them. Grabbing a small purse, you ushered your Kwamis into it. </p><p>Walking down the avenue of Paris seemed ethereal almost. Every corner and road seemed fit for a photoshoot; imagine, a woman frolicking along the street clad in a flowing 18th-century gown or in the nightly rain, 2 lovers sharing an umbrella. Almost every store held similar vibes: Romanesque elegance dancing to the summer orchestral music played pianissimo. Turning to a corner, you could an open store with a white cloth draped around it. A woman in her 30s stood there accommodating a customer. When they left, the woman shrunk in disappointment but upon meeting your eyes, she lit up once again. </p><p>"Good morning, isn't it? Would a beautiful young lady like you want a painting?" The woman asked, desperation in her voice. Ah yes, the gruelling life of an artist. For her kind, they either break it or make it and unfortunately for her, it was the former. Now she stood on the side of the street, promoting her art in hopes of making enough for to make it another week. Giving in, you let her lead you to her paintings. Quite admittedly, her work was spectacular; she specialized in Cubism and Impressionism. You observed as thin colourful tints were painted with immense detail as she formed sceneries and people. Her cubic art composed of grey, monochromatic parts that made up imagery.</p><p>"You aren't being commissioned?" You asked as your finger traced the lines. "No, sadly," She sighed, "Unless you want me to commission, miss!" She said, painted hands clasped underneath her chin. You looked at her with a smile but inside, you felt guilty. "Here, you can have my card. If ever you want a commission that is, I do Realism too!" You noticed the strain in her eyes when she said she could do Realism; you recognized it, coercion; limitation; obligation. </p><p>Eyes softening you said, "I think your art style suits you more," Taking her card, you roamed around her store more. Spotting a display of rings, you grabbed one. You inspected its silver metal twisted elegantly. "I handmade those," She said proudly, "The one you have right now is one of my best works. It represents-"</p><p>"Simplicity?" You cut her off, putting the ring on your middle finger. It fit you perfectly, "Well, that's what I want people to think. It symbolized perfection," You rose a brow at this. "I believe perfection exists in small things. Things people won't usually notice." She said dreamily, "Do you believe humans are imperfect, then? We notice humans too often."</p><p>"Naturally," she responded. "By nature, we are imperfect. Even in essence, we are imperfect. But I like to believe in our smallest moments, we are sincere. Like how we twitch when we're nervous or how we move when we're asleep. Unconsciously, we are perfect."</p><p>"Then, perfection is subjective," you analyzed her words. "I can see tiny, almost unnoticeable, dents on this ring." She laughed at that, "Of course! Art is subjective; this is my interpretation. My medium to the world. It's my equivalent of an escape just as a writer is to paper." </p><p>Convinced, you bought the ring. It was quite pricey, 85 euros for a tiny ring, but you supposed this was the price of an idea. Putting it on, you strolled Paris once more. Encountering a bakery by the block, you entered as you felt hungry. pon entering, a short-haired Chinese woman welcomed you. You smiled at her as you looked around. "Do you have any croissants as of now?"</p><p>"Only the best! Our bakery is the best in Paris." An insanely tall man said as he puffed out his chest. "I'll take two with cheese then. If you have cheese that is, if not a regular one or one with chocolate will do."</p><p>"Two cheese croissants coming up!" You faced the woman with a smile, "Do you sell beverages here, ma'am?"</p><p>"Why, yes, we do! Anything you want in particular?"</p><p>You told her your order and she immediately went back room to make the coffee. You heard faint shouting and a few seconds later, came out a familiar girl. Upon seeing you, she greeted you although you noticed the slight nervousness in her stance. "Hey, (Y/N)! You here for some pastries?"</p><p>You nodded, "I heard this was the best in Paris." She proudly backed up your claim. "Is this your parents' occupation?"</p><p>"Yep! My mom told me to get some coffee beans at the back; we've run out." Following her, you said, "Let me help you then." Upon reaching the back storage, an alarm suddenly buzzed out from one of the light posts. A new akumatization had happened; despite having been here for less than two weeks, you were already tired from the constant villains. The alarm had indicated that the villain was somewhere near Arc de Triomphe which was quite far from where you currently were. Since the hotel was near you anyways, you bid Marinette goodbye and began walking before she grabbed your wrist. "Where are you going? It isn't safe! Stay here!"</p><p>"I've got something to confess..." You edged her on, "... I'm Ladybug." Your eyes watched blanky as Marinette flustered over the statement before stuttering out, "Wha-What?! No, you're not!" Eyes twinkling with mischief, "I am. Which is why I can't be harmed. Plus, how do you know I'm not Ladybug. Maybe, you've seen her identity.... or.....," you paused with dramatic effect, watching intently as Marinette's eyebrow sweated. "Maybe you're Cat Noir!" You accused, pointing your finger at her face. You watched her reaction. Her mouth hung open, eyes wide open before you burst out laughing, "I'm playin-"</p><p>"It wasn't funny!" You laughed harder as she turned red. Oh, you were enjoying this too much. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. C'mon, admit it. It was funny." You giggled. She crossed her arms, "Okay, maybe a little.." You patted her head before leaving, "I gotta go home now before the villain snatches me." You snickered as you thought about her reaction once more. "You're evil." Hei pointed out from your purse before smirking, "I like it. But you've still got a long way to go before earning my approval, brat."</p><p>"Stop encouraging her, Hei. (Y/N), that wasn't nice." Bai scolded. You shrugged without a care, "Life is boring without watching people suffer. Also, who said I was asking for your approval, Hei?" You clarified. You turned the last corner to the hotel but your eyes widened at the figure of lava walking down the street, melting on anything it sets its foot upon. You turned your back against the wall as you cursed under your breath. Running to a random shop, you hid. You peeked over the counter as the villain placed its hand on a building and watched it melt into magma. You watched it jump away as Cat Noir and Ladybug arrived on the scene, eagerly chasing it. You got out of your hiding place quickly and jumped out of the flow of lava. It was incredibly hot with the lava just laying there. You decided to run back to the hotel before a feminine scream ripped its way out of someone's throat. You whipped your head to see a girl dangling from a metal pole. She looked at you with desperation. In response, you looked for the dynamic duo, but they were too far and busy fighting the villain. She screamed once more as her finger slipped, deathly afraid of the lava underneath her. You cursed once more.</p><p>Taking a deep breath, you screamed out, "I'll look for help. Hang in there!" You ran to a random alleyway and the only sound you heard was your own heartbeat. All energy that kept your face completely faded and what was left was repressed anxiety. Your hand clutched your chest as your ears went numb from the constant beating of the vital organ. Laboured breaths were heavy and venomously laced with anxiety and pressure. Your eyebrows furrowed as your lip quivered, hand desperately grasping at the concrete wall behind you. Pupils shrunk and were as shaky as your legs, which took all of your energy to keep standing. You barely registered Bai's soothing words telling you to take deep breaths. You barely heard Hei's harsh words saying if you weren't going to take action now, her blood would be on your hands and memories of guilt would follow you forever.</p><p>Anxiety caught up to your throat as you struggled to breathe, eternally shaking hands grasping at your throat. Bai glared at Hei as he finally got the other to clam his mouth. Flying close to your face, but not close enough to set your alarms once again, he said calmly, "(Y/N)... please, you have to take action."</p><p>"L-Ladybug will arrive s-soon..." You stammered, forcing down those tears. "You can't always count on her, she has her hands busy right now. You don't have to fight the villain, okay?" He said softly, gliding down to place his tiny hands on your clasped hands. "Just save her, you can do that.. Just jump and save her, please." </p><p>"B-But, people will see me.." Bai flew to your eyes as you finally elevated them from the floor. He saw worry and concern in those eyes; so many emotions pushed down finally bubbled up at this moment. Confusion, obligation, regret, anxiety, shame. Looking at you softly, "Be str-"</p><p>"Does that really matter now? She's about to die," Hei bluntly said. You missed the brief rage that flew in Bai's eyes as he scolded his counterpart once more. Taking a deep breath, you calmed yourself. Without waiting for the two to stop arguing, you said, "Hei Bai, fins on!"</p><p>Without wasting a second, you leapt and charged towards the woman as she fell. Catching her slim frame in your arms, you held her tightly, eyes determined. You quickly dropped her on safe ground and leapt away once more, alarms blaring in your head. You detransformed and stuffed you tired Kwamis into your bag, sprinting towards the girl you just saved. You watched her shakily get up as you hugged her roughly. You pulled away and inspected her face, "Are you okay?!"</p><p>Your eyes were filled with worry as you made sure she was okay, "I'm so sorry. It took me a long time to find someone," </p><p>"It's... fine," She finally replied and you took note of her silky smooth voice. Finally calm, you closed your eyes and sighed. Opening them did you finally notice her beauty. Fair face with prominent cheekbones, yet her face was still round to maintain that feminine charm. Sharp, almond honey eyes that looked almost feline-like. A small, pointed up-turned nose and peach-pink plump lips. Messy indigo hair cut into a bob. You quickly removed your hands from her, "Are you alright?" You asked calmly. </p><p>"As I've said, I'm fine," she said curtly, "Thank you, however, for saving me." She bowed to you, "No need to bow. I wish I'd called someone earlier." She looked at you with a straight face, "I wish so too," she said bluntly, "But I am still glad to be alive." She smiled or at least attempted to. "Do you know who that hero was? I've never seen her before."</p><p>"I don't know as well. I was just screaming for help and she suddenly showed up out of nowhere," You lied easily. "Let's get us both to safety." You said as you led her, "I'll get you some water." She was about to deny your request again to flurries of ladybugs flowed to the molten building and fixed everything once more. You'd never get used to that. "There's no need for that. But may I know your name? I am indebted to you from now on." </p><p>"What? No. It was the bare minimum.. anyone would've called out for help," You coughed, "Anyways. I'm (Y/N) (L/N)."</p><p>"(L/N)..." She tested out your name, "I'm Tsurugi Kagami, rather Kagami Tsurugi" She corrected herself. "(L/N)-san, if my mother permits it, may I buy you lunch?"</p><p>"(Y/N) is fine. May I call you Kagami?" You asked, mindful of Japanese culture. Once she nodded, you said, "No need to pay me back, Kagami. But if it bothers you this much, we could have lunch. Not because you want to repay me but as friends." </p><p>"Friends?" She sounded. 'Oh dear, is she one of those kids that don't know what friends are?', you thought. You watched as she nodded slowly and took out your hand for you to shake. After shaking her hand firmly, you watched as she waved you goodbye and walked off. You rose an eyebrow at her weird behaviour. Shaking your head, you headed back to the hotel.</p><p>You'd done it now. Surely, someone would've taken a picture again and the public would be searching for you again. And you knew for a fact that the public wouldn't be the only one involved with it but the government of both Paris and France as well. Perhaps even international organizations that dealt with superheroes. Not only that, but both Ladybug and Cat Noir would be searching for you relentlessly; perhaps convincing you to join their little tag-team of superheroes and maybe even coercing you to hand over your Miraculous; that is if your theory was correct and they indeed had other Kwamis as well. Your Kwamis were forbidden from answering these type of questions. They'd be searching for you now, and it would only be a matter of time until you were found out. </p><p>You hadn't bothered to make sure Chloe was okay, having enough for today and not wanting Chloe to add another problem to your list. You kicked off your shoes and plopped onto the bed, feelings merging with both confusion and relief. You were glad Kagami didn't die; if she had, you'd be left reliving the memory of her death. You'd wondered if you just left her there, would Ladybug's power be omnipotent enough to bring her back to the land of the living? Or did even her powers have limitations? You almost took the chance but your humanity prevented you. Or perhaps it was just guilt. Were you even human in that moment of hesitation when the first thing that popped into your mind was living life in remorse because of her death than her death itself? </p><p>When philosophers said humans, at their essence, were selfish; were you who they were pertaining to? Even in a situation where most people would've acted already, you hesitated because you thought of yourself. Even in the face of another as they were a second away from death, you thought of obligation and guilt; obligation because you were now entitled to saving Paris and that added to the multiple things in your list that you had to keep up. You felt guilt eat you from the inside out; churning at the base of your stomach and crawled like spiders to every nerve; remorse abruptly at the hollow of your throat. You used up every last willpower left inside you to never let them flow. You'd rather break every bone in your body and watch your insides spill out than let the tears flow. You associated it with weakness; and you vowed to never show weakness. </p><p>You closed your eyes; everything was simpler back in England. Back before you took that trip to China. Back when Blaise was still here. When you hadn't anything to worry about; or rather you brushed away your secret struggles because he was there. You were so sure back then that everything would've been alright and that you'd find a way together. He was Blaise; Blaise, The Great; Blaise, your hero. He had always found a way for everything and despite not being the brightest, he was creative in all aspects and somehow, that shone brighter than any calculation you could've ever made. He had creativity where you had intelligence; perhaps this was the difference between you two. You were sure that without a doubt, he would know what to do in this situation. Perhaps in his selflessness, he wouldn't have hesitated and even in your current moment of shame, he'd comfort you and tell you soothing words that always managed to hit your core and shoot at the very beginning of your struggle. He'd always know what to say and knew not only yours but everyone's emotions like the back of his hand. He was an empath and with his skills, could easily manipulate people but he chose selflessness for reasons that until now, you couldn't comprehend. His eloquence and intuition to calm storms in people was something you could never do. Even in your genius, it was something you could never replicate. But he was gone now; disappeared and without a memory of the previous nights, your searches always came to an end. Everything was covered up and you were confused endlessly. Your memories were hazy like a blizzard with zero visibility and whenever you'd try to remember, headaches frequented you. </p><p>Snapping out of your thoughts, you felt someone nudge your finger. Kayden's wet nose poked at it and stared at you with feline eyes, eyes you knew held concern. Waving her off, you looked at your Kwamis. They were strangely silent in agreement and obedience, perhaps sympathizing with your earlier situation. You glared at the thought, "Bai... Thanks for what you did back there," You said, tired eyes staring directly into his. You saw him smile softly and pat your knuckles, "It's my duty, (Y/N)."</p><p>You heard Hei grumble underneath his breath, knowing he wanted recognition as well. You could tell he knew he wasn't in a place to speak, being partially responsible for sending you to a whole mental breakdown. You saw his dark figure slouch before raising his head, monochromatic eyes refusing to look at yours, "... I'm sorry.."</p><p>Pretending not to hear anything, you asked, "What was that?" You saw the look of annoyance on his face before rolling his eyes, "I'm sorry.... for talking to you like that.." You didn't reply as you closed your eyes, you heard him grumpily ask you if you were going to reply or not, "I'm mulling it over... but you've still got a long way to go before earning my approval." You said cruelly, using his words against him. You closed your eyes, letting yourself drift into a dreamless slumber.</p><p>-</p><p>Marinette ran across the avenue, phone in hand as she bumped into several civilians, muttering out apologies as she goes. Upon reaching a familiar massage shop, you finally caught her breath, Tikki flying in front of her with a worried expression on her face. Mumbling an 'I'm fine', she opened the wooden door. With her eyes, she saw Master Fu making tea as if he was expecting her. He gave her a closed-eye smile but Marinette saw the fleeting quiver on the corner of his lips. "Come, Marinette."</p><p>She gingerly sat on the floor as he poured her a drink. After she took a sip of the tea, the old man started, "As you know, Wayzz felt the awakening of a Miraculous a few weeks ago. After nothing had shown up in Paris, I thought it might've been a false alarm but now that a hero has shown up..."</p><p>".. It's been confirmed," She continued, "What will I do, Master? You yourself didn't give the miraculous to them. What if they are dangerous?"</p><p>"If they had saved that civilian, perhaps they aren't so evil. But then again, anyone would have."</p><p>"Would an evil person save someone from death?"</p><p>"I would've asked why it took someone's near-death experience to bring them out but residents and tourists enter Paris all the time." The old man said, hand under his chin. "At least we'd be able to know if they were a resident if they continue to save Paris, now that they've shown themselves."</p><p>"If they do not meet your standards, what should we do?"</p><p>"The only thing there is. You and Cat Noir must take their miraculous away from them." The Chinese man said, deathly serious. Marinette felt the gravity of his stare and forced herself to nod. </p><p>Days had passed since then and the Paris' acclaimed hero never showed up once again. Several French articles and videos had been released filled with theories, criticism, and praise all over the new heroine. The most active site out there perhaps had been the Ladyblog; for the first time hadn't focused entirely on the iconic girl in red but the mysterious figure who was assumed as neither a hero nor a villain. A hero because they saved a life, but a villain for waiting for the chance; a person in between the line. Theories had surfaced and guessed on how the mysterious person might've been a tourist and was lucky enough to save a person but had limited resources to back up that claim; information on heroes was strictly confidential after all.</p><p>Ladybug and Cat Noir had met up often and theorized themselves on the identity of the person and what could've been done to lure them out. While the thought never crossed the heroine, Cat Noir on the other hand, in the darkest corners of his mind where chaos and destruction lay, which might've been the cause for the upbringing of the thought for the influence of Kwamis goes beyond what they wore, thought that another near-death experience would lure them out. He never voiced this out, afraid his love would look at him differently and the thought had slipped through his mind ungrasped that it felt as though it never came and almost forgot about it. Somewhere in the hero's brain, when the darkest thoughts manifested and swarmed like buzzing wasps, he knew it was the only way. But his integrity and vow to both the city and his lady had been far greater than the temptation and shoved it back to the cage where he kept cruel plans. He simply smiled and vowed Ladybug they'd find out somehow.</p><p>The blonde boy shook his thoughts off and looked into the camera. He pushed back his hair as the cameraman took a picture, encouraging the boy to pose even more. His emerald eyes met briefly with (E/C) ones before closing his own and posed again. The boy had always felt uncomfortable in his own skin despite being a model but to have such intense eyes watching him had left his confidence a bit more shaken. The cameraman had told him to stop and an assistant gave him a bottle of water instantly. He gulped it down as he saw the (H/C)-haired girl approach. "You're a natural," She commented, rubbing her arms in what he recognized as insecurity. His eyes softened, 'She was probably just trying to learn from me.'</p><p>"Hey, don't be nervous, (Y/N)." He said putting a warm hand on your shoulder. He started recalling back to his first-ever magazine cover and cringed at the thought of his awkward expression published for everyone to see. He heard the director telling the girl she had 5 minutes till they'd shoot and shot her a small smile. Going behind her, he placed his hands on her arms and guided her into an elegant pose, "Here, since the photoshoot is about the new fragrance, you have to pose elegantly," You felt the warmth of his back as it arched over yours, mindful of your personal space. Adrien neared his mouth to your ear as he guided your hands into the final pose, "like this."</p><p>He backed away calmly as he smiled at you, eyebrows slanted up. You blinked as you did the final pose again, making him snort in laughter. You felt genuine embarrassment crawl up your neck, desperately trying to laugh it off. You've done photoshoots for school newspapers and for sections of your father's business but you'd never done a fashion photoshoot. You were awkward and rigid and wondered why your father made you do this; perhaps he enrolled yo in ballet to be more elegant but that didn't work out either. You heard the director tell you to be in place and smiled at Adrien's thumbs up. </p><p>You fell into position as the camera snapped and watched as the cameraman observed the picture, "Not bad," He continued, "but still horrible." You hadn't expected to be good at it on the first try but you'd take it this time. Your portion of the photoshoot had taken much longer than Adrien's did and you almost felt bad as you stole glimpses of him staring at his phone, a serene smile on his face. With the most charming smile you could muster, you ended the shoot in the span of an hour. With self-pitying thoughts, you listened as the director instructed you on what to do next. </p><p>You awkwardly put your arm around Adrien's shoulders, despising how close you were. You were sure Adrien felt the same awkwardness as he met your eyes and gave you a reassuring look. You looked away from him and into the camera, the director frowning at you. "You look weird next to him," he commented. 'Jeez, tell me something I don't know'</p><p>The rest of the day went by as you slowly got used to the camera being up in your face with the director subtly throwing remarks your way all the while praising your blonde partner. You felt yourself getting irked as each comment passed by but refused to show any emotion that you were bothered. You supposed Adrien didn't feel any evil in those words since he hadn't commented on it, not that you were expecting anything, but you questioned just how far his parents had locked him up to not know these social cues. </p><p>It had been nearly 7 in the afternoon and the blonde's bodyguard was waiting by the limousine. "Do you need a ride? We live pretty close to each other." You nodded in return, not in the mood to walk home. Yoboth made small talk over little things such as today's homework or the plans for the weekend. Seeing the corner, you knew your house was near. </p><p>All of the sudden, a huge finger covered the window and you felt the car shake as it was being lifted. Gripping the seatbelt lightly, you heard Adrien question, "Another akumatization?" </p><p>"How many villains does Paris have to face each day?!" You replied. You suddenly felt the car being lowered and a horrible feeling came about in your gut. It felt as though the giant was cocking back, preparing to fling this measly car away. "It's about to throw us!" You warned. You wondered if those would be the last words you'd utter for if you were to be thrown now, you'd definitely die. Your fists circled around the seatbelts tightly as the car was flung, biting back the scream and closed your eyes tightly. You heard Adrien scream as the bodyguard grunted. </p><p>The car was brought to a sudden stop and you felt yourself being flung forwards, hitting your head harshly on the seat. The vehicle was then brought down roughly to the ground, roof facing the floor. You all hung upside down, grunting in pain as the car door was ripped away roughly, revealing the one and only Ladybug. You vaguely heard her ask if you were okay as you rubbed your head. Unbuckling the belt, you fell roughly on the roof with a huff. Unbuckling Adrien and his bodyguard's seatbelts, you finally crawled out of the car, Ladybug helping you. Adrien crawled afterwards and the bodyguard immediately went to check if he was okay. </p><p>"I've got to lead you to safety, follow me." The girl in red said as she led you to a safe place. "C'mon, Cat Noir... where are you?" You hadn't noticed the blonde boy flinch as you focused on the pain on your head. "Are you alright, (Y/N)?" He asked. "Not really, but is anyone really?" You replied, pissed off. </p><p>Upon reaching a safe place where other civilians were gathered, you found an empty spot and sat in exhaustion, Adrien collapsing beside you. "Can't Ladybug use her miraculous already? My head hurts like hell." He laughed nervously at that and excused himself to use the bathroom. Waving him off, you laid on your back and used your elbow to cover your eyes, wanting a bit of rest. You tried your best to get some sleep but the constant worried hushes prevented you from doing so. </p><p>It had just been a few weeks since you've arrived in Paris but the constant akumatizations drove you to near madness. It was stressful having to keep up with your studies, the constant updates you had to send to your father's new secretary, modelling schedules, and having to hide your identities. Were the older citizens of Paris just as tired as you were? Perhaps even more? Emigration rates in Paris were much higher this year than they were in the previous years and you wondered when you'd be able to emigrate as well. Although you had told the secretary of the akumatizations, you had a feeling he thought you were crazy, much like when Luka first told you about it. Confusion and disbelief, with the underlining tone of judgement. Maybe you have gone crazy and moving to Paris was a hallucination when in reality, you'd been stuck in an asylum. </p><p>The back of your eyelids felt heavy and the beating crimson faded into obsidian; breathing calmed and fingers relaxing, you found yourself slowly descending into slumber. Well, until a kid suddenly screeched. You felt something crack within your bones, almost as if your bones were chambers that held streams of red, unspoken anger and the rupture in the bones had leaked venomous vapours of seething rage. Eyes snapping open, you turned to look at the child's direction. Even with the sight of the crying child, it hadn't softened you not eased your starving rage. The poor mother, who you've seen with far too many men in the city, tried to calm down her sobbing baby. As you continued to stare at them, you couldn't help but overhear their conversation. "It's okay, August. Ladybug and Cat Noir will save the day as always,"</p><p>"Maybe not this time," tuned in another civilian, watching the phone in his hand, "Ladybug's been knocked down and Cat Noir's about to be defeated as well," He mumbled, "Will this be the end of Paris?"</p><p>Deciding you'd rather sleep than face it again, you laid down and closed your eyes. You could feel muffled conversations in your bag and so turned your back against it. You heard multiple civilians gasp and scream as they watched their phones. "He's gonna throw Ladybug and she's unconscious!" Sitting up, you asked a civilian where Cat Noir was. "Cat Noir is about to get his Miraculous taken! This is the end of Paris!"</p><p>Inhaling deeply, you snatched your bag and ran to the bathroom of the evacuation centre. Reaching a stall, you opened your bag and glared as the Kwamis flew into existence. "You have to transform! There's no one else left to save them!"</p><p>"Maybe undercover heroes like me would come by?" You asked, cringing. "If there were, they would've come out by now," Hei said condescendingly. "Don't be a bother and just do it. You've exposed yourself anyways. There's no turning back."</p><p>"You don't have time to debate this over, (Y/N)!" Bai pleaded, "This is your destiny."</p><p>"Destiny?" You scoffed, "Merely twisted fate." </p><p>"You found us for a reason, (Y/N). We felt your pull." Hei said, getting impatient. "You felt it too..?" You asked, shocked. "H-How?"</p><p>"Save Paris and you'll find out." He tempted you, "Don't you think both Ladybug and Cat Noir have their own share of responsibilities? You don't know their identities; for all you know, they could be government officials or a person living in poverty. I'm aware it's not the right time to say it, but you're being incredibly selfish. If you care so much about yourself, you'd go out there and save Paris because guess what, you'll die along with it if you won't." </p><p>Hei flew close to your face and for the first time in your life, felt intimidated by the sheer gaze of someone else aside from your father, "Run away and die or save yourself and this city. Make your choice."</p><p>Bai gently pushed the other away and looked at you directly, "Fate led you to us, otherwise, our paths wouldn't have crossed. I can feel the turmoil debating inside of you but you met us for a reason. This is your chance, sha gua." He said endearingly.</p><p>"What if I'm not ready..? Or if I fail and miscalculate?" You asked, "Keep saying that and you actually might," The darker one commented before looking at you and sighing, "You've convinced people that Cat Noir could've had a second power and if you really tried, you'd find out their identities. This city is filled with idiots; Hawkmoth akumatized a baby for Kwami's sake! And the government is doing a shitty job at finding his identity," He grumbled,</p><p>"Listen, the point is. We both know how quick your mind is; calculative and precise. Cunning and you know how the human mind works. Find the weakness, make a plan, and strike. Just like you've always done," </p><p>"With us, you'll be unstoppable," Bai paused, "What choice will you make?"</p><p>Taking a deep breath, you felt a surge of a strange emotion come over you. An emotion that came to you that one night on the Southern Chinese mountain; one you hadn't ever felt since that night. A feeling in your stomach resurfaced once more and bubbled up in adrenaline; it spiritually pulled you closer to your Kwamis. The same peculiar, strange sensation that lured you into the mountain consequently leading up to this moment. Intuition had never guided you your entire life and when it did, left you in difficult almost unbearable situations. However, intuition felt different this time; interlaced with emotions you weren't familiar with. Desperation, anxiety, empowered, renewed, insecure and frustration. But the underlying emotion that drove you to make a choice: determination.</p><p>With a nod, you called upon your Kwamis.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Status: Unedited</p><p>sha gua - Chinese endearing term for silly</p><p>this is the longest chapter I've ever written guh dayummm. You're finally coming to terms w urself ?? :0 Fluff moments coming soon, I gotta prioritize ur development</p><p>I also won't be updating as often as I am currently bombarded with deadlines and incompetent groupmates so I hope you guys would understand.</p><p>Thanks for the comments and hearts!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter VII - Andromeda</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A feminine figure jumped across Paris' neoclassical buildings. Your feet carried you up in the air, adrenaline flowing like the current of electricity in your veins as you felt the pressuring rush of the wind. The air heavy on your chest causing slight heavy breathing but determination overcame it, like how it overcame everything else. Your eyebrows furrowed as you leapt in the air, scanning your surroundings and landed gracefully on a pinnacle of an apartment building. Your existence defied all science as you balanced both of your feet on the narrow pole. Catching a glimpse of the giant villain that stood 20 meters tall and the surrounding, smaller giants around it, the same one you saw as you jumped through roofs. In its massive hand, held an unconscious Cat Noir. You saw the crown on its head that glowed brightly and assumed that's where the akuma was hidden.</p><p>Quickly making a plan, you jumped roughly on a minion's head and leapt, causing it to stumble and fall. The fall caught the attention of other minions and they had come rushing towards you, grubby hands thirsting to grasp you. Pulling out your bow, you willed magical arrows to appear and shot every minion. You heard a roar coming from the main giant in obnoxiously bright clothing and it ran towards you. You ran towards it until you reached its ankle and purposely slid your body on the ground, using your bow to slice through its left ankle like butter. Catching its hand accidentally let go of the black cat as it stumbled, you jumped and held him before throwing him higher in the air. Grabbing your bow again, you summoned glowing white arrows and shot the villain dead in the forehead midair before catching Cat Noir in your arms once more. You landed on a random roof and scaled through roofs until you saw reached where Ladybug had been thrown, aware of her location due to the citizens.</p><p>You set down Cat Noir on the street gently as you sprinted towards the heroine, gingerly helping her up as her body crumbled to the floor. You heard her groan before asking if she was alright. "Are you fine?" It took her a while to come to before she glanced at you and gasped softly, "It's you.." You heard her groan again before she finally stood up. Upon seeing Cat Noir's state, she rushed towards him. "Cat Noir!"</p><p>"We need to defeat that villain." She declared, "... well yeah, no shit.." You mumbled. Apparently, she heard you since she gave you a scolding glare causing you to raise your arms in mock surrender. Hearing the rumble of approaching footsteps, you quickly carried the hero in your arms, "Come on, let's find somewhere else to plan."</p><p>You were about to jump only to look back and see Ladybug crouching, arm holding her abdomen. "Are you pregnant?" You asked, laughing slightly as she turned red and shouted, "No! What the- how did you come to that conclusion?!" You shrugged, "Either way, you're obviously hurt and not able to move properly right now. Let me carry us somewhere else,"</p><p>Not waiting for her reply, you gently threw her over your shoulder as you did with the other hero and moved with ease. Normally, everyone would be unable to hold two teenagers over their shoulders and leap numerous feet into the air, but you weren't like everyone else. You were a heroine. Landing on the blue roof of a building, you scanned and searched for a place to hide. Spotting the Notre Dame, you ran with lightness with abnormal speed, careful of the walking minions on the streets. Scaling up the holy cathedral, you reached the roof. The breeze that blew cooly dried the tiny sweat on your forehead. Setting down both heroes, you reached for Cat Noir once more, shaking him lightly. "He's not waking up anytime soon," You said, sweatdropping.</p><p>"We'll have to do this without him," She said. "It'll be difficult without his Cataclysm," You reasoned. "I vouch we wake him up now." You said as you raised a hand and struck it down his face but before it reached his face, Ladybug had caught your wrist in a tight grip, "What's wrong with you?! He's injured!"</p><p>"It won't hurt him.... just going to wake him up!" You said cheerfully, causing her to sweatdrop at you. "Relax," You said as you removed her hand. You gave light taps on his cheek and he made no response. Adding a little bit more force, you slapped his face lightly and still no movement. You waited a few seconds and heard him groan. Shaking him, you asked, "Cat Noir?" When he made no response, you quickly slapped his face roughly so the heroine wouldn't stop you this time. You heard her scold you, "Hey!" But Cat Noir had sat up quickly, "Wh-What?! Where's the villain? Why are we in Notre Dame? It's YOU! The copycat!" He said accusingly and pointed at you.</p><p>"Chill.." You said, arms up. "Not my fault they mistook me for you," You grumbled. "Can you move properly?" You asked, serious. He tried to stand up but fell, holding his leg. "Damn," You said, knowing you'd most likely defeat the villain alone. "Let's make a plan," Ladybug said.</p><p>"I've managed to injure the minions and the giant itself to save Cat Noir, however, I don't know if it did any significant or permanent damage." You reported. "Villains heal themselves so I'm afraid you didn't get to, copycat," The cat said. </p><p>"Hey," You warned, "At least I look way cooler than you." He scoffed and crossed his arms, "Pur-lease, no one can ever defeat Cat Noir. I'm superior not only in black but in everything else!" He huffed, his tail-like belt raised up. "Can your weapons glow? Do you have a tattoo on your back?" You asked arms crossed, "Yeah, I don't think so. Plus, I've got a mask for the bottom half of my face; I'm cooler than both of you combined."</p><p>"Stop bickering! Both of you!" Ladybug said as she got between the both of you, arms spread wide. She groaned once more before speaking again, "We need to find where the akuma is hidden."</p><p>"I'm pretty sure it's in the crown." You said. "And why should we trust you?" Cat Noir said as he pushed past Ladybug and stabbed his pointer finger in your chest, "I could've let you get your Miraculous taken away and leave Paris in ruins but I didn't, didn't I?" You said sassily, hand placed on your hip. "But you only waited for so long." Ladybug noted.</p><p>"Well, sorry, your highness; I only got my Miraculous recently and it's not that easy coming to terms that you're going to be saving Paris everyday." You said, sarcastically. "Nevermind," She dismissed. "Lucky Charm!" She called forth; in a bright pink light, came a polka-dotted telephone. "What am I supposed to do with this?" She asked, as she looked around and deflated. "What are you gonna do, m'lady? Call the cops?" Cat Noir teased.</p><p>"Speaking of, why doesn't Paris enforce better military to help you both with the akumatizations?" You pondered.</p><p>"Military is nothing against magic," Ladybug spoke, "Plus, that could mean casualties and instill more fear in the citizens."</p><p>You rose an eyebrow at this. "We could just snatch the crown away from it but those tiny giants are in constant watch," You said as you observed the minions that increased in number and surrounded it more securely. The giant's crown emitted a bright light that hit running civilians and turned them into the same minions that protected it. "Are you both able now?" You questioned. </p><p>When they'd nodded, you had almost told them you had a plan. You were unsure whether you'd be doing this again and suddenly taking charge of the group left you feeling odd and intruding. "Ladybug, do you have a plan?" You asked,</p><p>"Not yet. But I will have one soon," She said, "Of course you will, m'lady! You always do!" The hero said enthusiastically which made him look at him softly, "Thank you, kitty." </p><p>You grimaced at them, "...I kind of feel like I'm interrupting something... Are you dating?" You asked.</p><p>"I wish!" "Never!" Both of them said at the same time. You shrugged and suggested, "We should get closer, you might have a plan then, Ladybug," You looked back at them, "Will you be alright?" </p><p>They gave you their confirmation as they leap through the air and with you in pursuit, when you'd landed, your observant eyes caught the tiny grunts of pain that the both of them let out. You took this into consideration as you formed a plan. "We need to be careful of its crown or else we'd be turned into those minions too," Ladybug said.</p><p>"Oh, God no! I wouldn't want my beautiful Ladybug to be turned into something ugly!" Whined the Cat Noir. "Hey, what about me?" You asked, slightly offended. "....Eh.." </p><p>'Note to self, let Cat Noir die.' Ladybug ignored both of you as she formed her own crazy plan. "Both of you, follow my lead." She said as she handed you the telephone. You hadn't known what she meant by this but you followed her anyways as she jumped. She landed on a chimney as you and Cat Noir landed on different buildings and surrounded the giant in a triangle formation. "Hey, Titan! Over here, you oversized highlighter!" She taunted and caused the giant to look over at her. It launched at her as you and the other hero taunted the other minions and made them follow you. You and Cat Noir knocked down upcoming giants as they launched at you. Shooting a magical arrow at the last minion, Cat Noir knocked away with his staff. You both landed in a crouch and smirked at each other.</p><p>You both heard Ladybug screech and snapped your heads towards her. A minion held her in its big hands as the bright light hit her. Cat Noir screamed in anger and Ladybug emerged from the light not as herself but as one of the minions. You quickly grabbed the blonde boy's belt as you prevented him from attacking them in rage. "Ladybug!" You struggled against Cat Noir's strength. "Snap out of it, Cat! You won't save her by charging in there blindly!"</p><p>That managed to calm him down but you could sense anger emitting out of him. You felt guilty, letting yourself get caught up in the exhilaration of fighting that you hadn't fully observed your surroundings like you always had. "I've got a plan," You said, gaining his full attention. "We can't charge in there directly, those minions will attack and us like they did Ladybug. We'll sneak in around the side and behind the giant. But I predict a minion will still launch at us, which is why I need your Cataclysm prepared. But don't use it against it, that's a waste. I need you to Cataclysm the ground once we reach it. After that, defend the minions from me as I break the crown." </p><p>"What about Ladybug? How will we know it's her?" He asked, worried. "I'll take care of it. The minions, although identical, have different coloured eyes. I trust you know her eyes by heart. You are in love with her, after all."</p><p>"How'd you know?" He asked, shocked. You teased him, "You're not slick, kittycat."</p><p>"C'mon," You said as you led the blonde through the paths of Paris, careful not to meet any minions along the way. Once you reached a building perpendicular to the giant, you motioned for Cat Noir to jump down with you, Cataclysm activated. The blonde slammed his fist on the ground as it shook and cracked under the gravity of its power. He quickly turned around and fought the oncoming minions. You used the giant's instability as your chance as you sliced the back of both its ankles before jumping up and kicking the back of its head, causing it to fall on the ground. You landed on its back and looked back at its regenerating heels, blue skin stitching itself. You ran forward past its head and with the telephone's cord, wrapped its giant wrists and looped the base against it. With the wrists momentarily bound, you jumped and with your bow, shot a glowing arrow through it mid-air. You watched as an onyx butterfly emerged from it.</p><p>Landing, you asked "Cat Noir, which one's Ladybug?!" He grunted, before jumping up to land beside you, "That one! On the roof!" He pointed to one minion crawling on the roof, mouth pulled into a snarl. "Cover me," You ordered. </p><p>Your (E/C) eyes blared with determination, as you jumped towards the roof, facing Ladybug's new form. "Ex Nihilo," You whispered as your dominant hand glistened with shifting monochrome colours. This had been the first time you used it and had underestimated the power surging through your crimson blood. The feeling had come unexpectedly; heart beating beats much faster than before and eyesight somehow clearing more. The feeling was cold under your skin; not the type of cold you'd feel when ice grazed itself upon you but instead like cold metal; steel that doesn't warm a second after your skin is against it, one that stays cold forever. Aside from the omnipotence you felt, this was how the sensation felt. </p><p>You launched at the same time Ladybug and met in the air. Outsmarting her, you hooked your bow around her neck and swung yourself onto her nape. You slammed your palm against her forehead as she glowed brightly and transformed back into her original state in glitters. You wrapped your arms around her tiny waist and crashed onto the ground roughly. Rolling over a few times, you caged her frame with your knees and arms. Slowly opening your hues, you came in contact with familiar bluebell ones. You could've sworn you've seen them before but any recollection of a memory fell blank, only a blurry wall that blocked you from it. </p><p>Suddenly remembering you were in a crisis, you quickly got off the lady and helped her up. You watched her thank and nod at you before jumping down to the giant's tied wrists and throwing the telephone, fixing everything once more. You jumped down and kept a straight face as Cat Noir bowed and kissed the back of Ladybug's hand. She had instructed him to take the victim back, who was a middle-aged woman, to their place. She turned to look at you, "Thank you, once again, I don't know what would've happened had you not been here."</p><p>"I could've handled it all by myself, m'lady." Defended the cat, "He was about to get caught, too, by the way."</p><p>Deflating at the rejection, he turned to you and asked, "What did you do back there? You converted Ladybug back into...well, Ladybug!"</p><p>"Ex Nihilo," You hesitated, "...it's my power. To neutralize another Miraculous' power with a touch." Your eyes observed the curious stares of both heroes, "That's interesting," commented the female.</p><p>"Inconvenient as well." You finished. Hearing the beeping sounds of the girl's earings, you signalled, "We should go unless you're so eager to reveal yourselves to me?"</p><p>Ladybug rolled her eyes jokingly at you. "What do you go by?" Asked Cat Noir. </p><p>You pondered for a second, "Medusa," You tested the name out and felt a small, almost unnoticeable pit in your stomach. "Medusa," you finalized.</p><p>"Medusa?" Questioned the woman, "I don't see it." She said as she scanned your outfit. "I agree. You look more of a Devil Ray." Suggested Cat Noir. </p><p>"Or Remora? Tetra?" Suggested the other. "Matsuba? Hanatsuki?" </p><p>"It doesn't feel right," You said. "Call me Medusa," You winked.</p><p>Ladybug and Cat Noir bid their farewells and speeded off together. You watched them jump off to the places in between Paris and heard the high-pitched sonic from your bracelet. Looking at it, you saw that instead of the monotone colours being completely separate, it was purely grey now. Another beep was heard, and you saw grey transforming into marbles of black, white, and grey. One more beep and the colours shifted from being partly stirred, to almost separate marbles of black and white, swirling against each other. You quickly found a random empty space and transformed back, catching the tired Kwamis in your palm. "That was the first time you used the power, (Y/N)," Commented Bai. You gently stuffed them in your pocket and ran off to Le Grand Paris. You greeted the staff formally and proceeded to the elevator. You tiredly leaned against the elevator as you waited to reach your floor. Haring the ding, you yawned and almost stepped out of the lift until you saw a familiar face. "Chloe?"</p><p>"Ugh, who else?" She rolled her ocean eyes, "Now, shoo."</p><p>You rose an eyebrow at this and crossed your arms, the sleepiness slowly going away. "What?"</p><p>"Get out." She said, annoyed. Upon seeing your stationary face, she said, "of the elevator! God, do I have to spell it out for you?"</p><p>"Oh, I know. But why?" You asked, feet planted and stubborn. "Cuz I can't stand to be in the same room as you, obviously. Well, I can't stand to be in the same room as everyone but most especially you and Marinette!" She glared and poked at your chest.</p><p>Trying not to snap, you answered cooly, "Too bad; it's not enough for me to move." You felt satisfaction creep up in your chest as she grew red, "Either you ride with me or you ride after. Your choice," You smirked internally, knowing her pride wouldn't let her be second to you in anything. She huffed as she stomped into the elevator, putting as much space in between the two of you. You hummed softly as you felt her annoyance increase. Upon reaching your floor, you stepped out.</p><p>"You know, Chloe. We should really try to get along with each other more. We aren't kids anymore," You suggested. Your eyes watched as she gave you a disgusted face, "Keep dreaming," She retorted. You sighed as the doors closed and scratched your head, "I'll get to her soon,"</p><p>Upon reaching your room, you immediately got out the snacks you prepared for your Kwamis. You watched softly as they nibbled on the snacks quietly. Your eyebrows slanted up and a soft smile sat on your face; you'd have to be honest, they looked rather cute and child-like now. On your first meeting, they had looked monster-like, similar to transfigured rats but as of this moment, you'd admit in secret that they were quite precious. Turning your attention to your cat, you picked him up roughly and grunted at his weight. You carried him to your bed where you wrapped your arms and snuggled your nose in his fur, hearing him hiss. "I saved Paris today," You told him softly.</p><p>He stopped squirming and sighed through his pink nose making you exhale a laugh. "I should do it more often?" You propped your elbow on the bed and looked at his plump figure, rubbing the white belly. He watched you blankly with green feline eyes but you saw the hidden emotion in them. Even if he was a cat, you could feel his pride in you. Smiling, got ready for bed. "Are you guys alright?" You asked the Kwamis after they had finished their snacks, now rejuvenated. </p><p>"Thanks for today," You started as they flew closer, "... and for snapping some sense into me, I needed it." Your eyes flickered to Hei as he looked at you smugly. "Just in the day's job of a Kwami."</p><p>"It felt nice," (E/C) hues shifted to the sheets, "having to save this city, I mean. It was pressuring but somehow liberating at the same time." </p><p>"See, all you had to do was try." Encouraged Bai. "You were being so damn dramatic about it though." Retorted the other.</p><p>"Shut up. It was a hard decision to make." You huffed, getting embarrassed over your little show. Bai chuckled softly, "Will you be doing it more often?"</p><p>You sighed, "Well, I have to now, don't I? It's turned into an obligation; otherwise, I'd die of guilt." </p><p>"At least this will ease it, right?" Hei reasoned surprisingly. You nodded tiredly and let yourself yawn. Sensing your sleepiness, Hei turned off the lights.</p><p>The next day of school composed of Alya gushing over the new hero and within breaks were strident conversations about Paris' new dedicated savior, Medusa. The tanned student showed your group of friends a picture that bled through the internet: it was Medusa balancing perfectly and elegantly on a pole, back pulled with pride as she looked over the city, (E/C) eyes hardened, and even through the mask, a stoic expression on her lips. In that moment as you scanned Paris and formulated a plan, you had felt a surge of power and determination flow through you with accuracy. </p><p>You feigned admiration as you all discussed the mysterious hero, preventing yourself from cringing. Alya concocted theories as you joined in. When she had talked about her identity, you gave her a few theories and candidates, effectively leading them away from the truth. You faked embarrassment from the theory you made earlier about the hero being Cat Noir and let yourself be submitted into friendly banter. You presented a dramatic apology for Cat Noir in front of them, unknowingly saying it to him directly. </p><p>You listened as your peers praised and complimented the heroism displayed by Medusa. In the usual bored and closed hues of Juleka, you saw a glimmer of admiration in place of monotonicity and in Alya's hazel optics, there was shared idolatry and reverence between the three heroes. You watched as Marinette's eyes held hesitation but admiration the same; you, too, would hesitate with a new hero. Symphonies of praise left their mouths and reached your perked-up ears, gratifying the unconscious need for validation. You knew it wasn't heroic to bathe in such flattery but laudatory words of your valor were undeniably pleasant and sparked up a small fire that was, as of now, indistinguishable from vehemence and being a glory hound.</p><p>When you saw the glint of hope in the eyes of children as they spoke of you; speaking so devotedly of a hero who was right by their sides. When they spoke of you like that, it triggered something within you that pushed you to continue being the hero they imagined you to be. To be Medusa was to live another life; one where you didn't need to worry about academic responsibilities nor have to worry about your father; simply fight and fight and fight. But to be Medusa was to handle two lives; one more responsibility stacked upon a skyscraper of them. But perhaps, the two heroes were living the same life as well but you were selfish; it's what made you human. However, if they had ignored their selfishness and continued on, then they were human too. They continued saving Paris despite living hard lives and having responsibility stacked upon responsibility, and retained aidos; that's what made them human: resistance against man's instinct to be selfish. In the end, you all were human but you were a selfish human, and that riddled you with guilt beyond the unknown. </p><p>The chance presented itself before you with neon billboards: 'Free yourself of this guilt', it says. It had always been saying that, you thought. Plenty of times, chances to be heroic presented themselves before you but you ignored the thought of it being another burden. But was it really a burden when you enjoyed it? You recall the exhilaration running through your veins like electricity and the thrill of jumping through the views of Paris. Time flew quickly as you saved Paris and conversed and joked with the heroes, contradictory to how time flowed as you did ballet or student council. You enjoyed being a hero and came to terms with this; so you ask yourself again, was it really a burden? </p><p>You smiled to yourself, you'd take this chance, after millions of debates. The chance to be free, to be happy, and the chance to live for yourself. And the very thought of it was so liberating that you forced the tears swelling up. You knew you weren't completely dedicated to being a hero and you knew you would be selfish during the course of it and perhaps you really didn't deserve being called a hero, but for now, you'd recognize this as freedom. Clearing your throat, you joined in on the conversation once more. </p><p>"Her power allows her to neutralize other powers! It's kind of inconvenient but useful if she's being strategic." Alya commented. "She also looks different from Ladybug and Cat Noir, too."</p><p>"Her mask is on the bottom half of her face," Commented Rose. "And she has a tattoo; that's fucking awesome," Said Alix.</p><p>"Her eyes turn black too, it's rad," Juleka said softly. "She's got a bow," You added. "And arrows that appear magically!" Alya said. "She's awesome, isn't she?" Marinette said with what you identified as hesitation.</p><p>"More than awesome," Said her bestfriend, "With another hero, Hawk Moth would finally be defeated. Surely he can't take on three heroes at once. Paris will be peaceful again," </p><p>There was sadness in those words, tired of constant sleep deprivation and paranoia. "Do you guys want to hang out soon?" You asked, </p><p>"We could go to my house on Saturday, if it's okay with all of you." Smiled the bluenette.</p><p>You heard the girls agree in excitement and was afraid to tell them bad news, "I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it," You said sadly, "My schedule might be full then." </p><p>"You're just like Adrien," Laughed Alix. "He's constantly busy too."</p><p>"Well, he is a model and his dad is super strict," Said Marinette. "More than strict," You commented. "He keeps him locked up all the time."</p><p>"Preach, honestly," Alya said, bored, "Like, is it so hard to let him be with his friends sometimes?"</p><p>"He got major issues." You noted. </p><p>"Instead of daddy issues, he's got son issues. A little weird, if you ask me." The redhead said as she laughed.</p><p>"Okay, that's enough, guys," Spoke Marinette. "C'mon, you gotta admit, it's funny." Rose giggled.</p><p>"Gabriel Agreste slander." You declared in a tone that left no room for debate and Marinette sighed, shoulders drooped.</p><p>"Gabriel Agreste slander," The rest of the gang agreed with the bluenette's voice lagged behind.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Status: Unedited</p><p>happy 100th page &lt;3</p><p>Okay yyallll im backkkk!! It was a hectic week for me last week, I had so many deadlines but I can get some chapters out now so that's good. I might be busy again in the future since I am participating in a lot of academic and extracurricular activities rn so please understand. You've also had moments with ALL the love interests. I'll have to say this beforehand, but the ships won't be equal meaning some ships will get more moments and progress more than the others. I'm also going to be treating this fic as if it's my philosophy project lmfaoooo so expect a lot of philosophy. </p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter VIII - Orion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The days flew by quickly until the weekend came wherein a group composing of a goth, prep, tomboy, hippie, baddie, stalker, and a depressed teenager finally came. You were dressed casual outfit of a (F/C) one-shoulder sleeveless top and black bottoms paired with white shoes and currently practiced your introduction to Marinette's parents in front of their white door. You shrugged after moments of inner monologues and knocked on their door, a smile on your face. Upon the door opening, you immediately greeted them and introduced yourself, handing out the small bouquet of flowers as per French tradition. You noticed their almost immediate liking towards you and led you up to Marinette's room. </p><p>As you opened the hatch, you were greeted with Marinette, Mylene, and Alya. Walking over towards them, you gave them both kisses on either cheek. "Where's Rose and Juleka?" You asked.</p><p>"They're arriving a little late. Juleka's helping her brother with something right now," Answered Marinette. You shrugged and immediately initiated a conversation, relishing in the laughter that emitted from three girls as you spoke. There was something so rewarding over the fact that you had the ability to make those around you laugh regardless if the host, you, was sincere in her buffoonery or not. It fed this gluttonous monster within you that craved attention and validation to make up for the missing hugs and praise from non-existent parental figures. Perhaps this was manipulation and you subconsciously knew that. </p><p>After a few more minutes of conversation and Marinette's phone lit up with a message from Juleka. You offered to bring her up as Marinette went down to get some snacks. You quickly went down the stairs to the bakery and saw Juleka and Rose with someone you hadn't expected. "Luka?" He turned to look at you with a shocked expression. "What are you doing here?"</p><p>You looked back and forth between Juleka, Rose, and him, "Siblings?" You guessed. Juleka nodded, "You two know each other?" She asked. You went over to Luka and placed an elbow on his shoulder, now realizing the clear height difference between the two of you. "We met over this music app a few months ago and became friends," You gave Juleka a finger-gun.</p><p>"Wait, what?" She asked incredulously. "She's the girl you've be-" Luka had quickly cut her off with an awkward laugh, "How about you and Rose go up first? I've gotta talk to (Y/N) here for a sec."</p><p>Both girls looked at each other and his sister gave him a teasing smirk before doing what her brother said. You turned to look at him and chuckled, "What was that about?" </p><p>"Oh, nothing," He waved off. "She meant to say 'the girl I've been wanting to crush in a music competition'" You rose an eyebrow at this and crossed your arms in a challenging pose. "Oh?" </p><p>"How do you propose we do that? Classical versus rock? Who'll be the judge? If you say Jagged Stone, I might punch you." You threatened teasingly. "Hmm, I'd feel bad so I'd choose Mozart but even if he did judge, he'd still choose me."</p><p>"He's dead," You commented. "Music transcends lifetimes." He answered softly. "But," He continued. "If you really do want to hold a competition, we could learn each other's instruments." He suggested.</p><p>"I could teach you the violin and you teach me the electric guitar, deal?"</p><p>"Deal," He laughed. "When do you wanna start?"</p><p>"When I'm free, which is not often. I'll text you, don't miss my messages." You said as you walk back into the bakery, waving at him. He simply smiled at your back.</p><p>Back in Marinette's room, you immediately joined in on their conversation which was unsurprisingly about Adrien. Marinette went on and on about how hot he looked in his new magazine and frantically showed us the pictures; you couldn't deny how attractive he indeed looked as he looked into the camera with a sultry look clad in a blue jacket. She then gushed over his upcoming commercial about a perfume your father's company sponsored. Then she talked about how good he looked training during his fencing classes which made you do a double take. </p><p>"Hold on, you take fencing classes too? That's another level of dedication, Marinette." Your comment made Alya giggle, "No, she just watches him."</p><p>"And he still hasn't found out about your crush on him even if you're just watching by the benches the entire time?"</p><p>"Actually," Marinette giggled, "He doesn't know," A pit formed in your stomach, "because he never spots me!"</p><p>"What?" You questioned pointedly, "Are you telling me you stalk him?"</p><p>"Stalking is a strong word, (Y/N). I'd rather refer to it as 'sharing the same interests'." </p><p>"You're obsessed," You declared, arms crossed a straight expression on your face. You look around the room and find that the rest of your friends stayed silent or rather took Marinette's side, which made you disturbed. There seemed to be an unspoken rule between the gang wherein no one talks about the disturbing fact that Marinette knows everything about Adrien, from his schedule to his likes, or rather, everyone brushes it aside for the sake of giggles or in the name of 'love'. But this wasn't love, it was obsession. "Listen, no hard feelings but you've gotta stop."</p><p>"Why? What's wrong with what I'm doing?" She asked which made your eyebrows stick together even more. "You're really asking that? Marinette, you're stalking him!" </p><p>She only put her hands on her hips and you took that as a challenge to your authority and rose a fine brow. "Having an innocent crush on Adrien is fine but you can't be following him all the time, not to mention, without his consent."</p><p>"(Y/N), I think you're reading too much into-" You cut Alya off. "How far have you followed him?" You asked in an authoritative voice. When Marinette hadn't answered, you continued, "To his house?" </p><p>No one had replied and you took their silence as a yes. Taking a deep breath, you chose your next words carefully. "I hope you know that was illegal, Marinette." You started, "I would've turned the other cheek if you stopped at knowing his schedule or putting up his pictures in your room. How would Adrien feel once he knows you've been following him all over the place? He'd feel violated and paranoid, not knowing if there was someone watching him all the time."</p><p>"But he doesn't know so it's fine," She defended weakly. "Imagine someone outside your house right now, watching you from your window. Imagine them following you to school and to your home, imagine them knowing every detail about you."</p><p>When she lowered her head, you continued, "There are better ways to handle this crush, Marinette. You don't have to be such a creep about it," Your eyes shifted from one friend to another, "All of you here are enablers," You started. "Did it never cross any of your minds that this was turning unhealthy?"</p><p>"While Marinette's your friend, Adrien is as well and all of you in this room should've thought about how he felt. Especially you, Marinette." Your eyes sharpened as they clashed with hers, "I would've thought since you loved him so much, you'd be the first to consider it." </p><p>Taking a deep breath, you realized you'd taken it too far, observing the hurt expression on all of your friends' faces. Your tone softened as you tried to ease the tension, "I apologize for my harsh words but Adrien is my friend, so don't mistake my anger as jealousy. And all of you are too, which is why I'm telling you this." </p><p>That same day, another villain had appeared in a form of shadows which you theorized must've been a child this time and once again doubted HawkMoth's ability and goal. What was he trying to achieve akumatizing the dumbest people possible? After a random blanket made out of nowhere and a few more powers, the villain was defeated. However, you noticed a slight slack in Ladybug's performance today. You decided to approach her before the 5 minutes of her miraculous would run out. Grabbing her arm before she could take off, you asked, "Is there something wrong, Ladybug? You weren't at your best today."</p><p>Looking back at you with sad eyes, she shrugged, "I might be a little sick today,"</p><p>Frowning, you knew she was lying but knew better than to ask. Letting her arm go, you said, "Alright. I know I'm new to this...." You hesitated, "... thing. But you can talk to me." You watched as she swung away and calculated the time left till you would transform. Three minutes exact and so you decided to find an alleyway. You jumped from building to building, unaware of the irony of the situation. Ladybug, or rather Marinette, was sad because of you. You especially, not when you were in Medusa but (Y/N) in her essence.</p><p>Finding an empty alleyway, you transformed back, about to walk out until voices were around you. "Did she turn here?" One of them said. Alarms blared in your head as a certain Urging your Kwamis to eat faster, you whispered to transform once more and a bright light overcomes the shadowy alley. As the light dimmed, the sight before you were who you thought they were, men and women in suits. Your stance felt strong as you looked at them head-on, eyes sharpened. Your arms were flaccid by your side but anyone could see the tension in them, waiting for a sign to reach for your weapon. Seeing this, a woman stepped forward, arms raised. "We're not here to hurt you." She declared.</p><p>It seems that these people weren't taught how to calm people down since that only made the arms blare louder. Hand holding your weapon, you said, "Then step away, all of you." </p><p>Frowning as she lowered her arms, the woman said, "We're hear to talk."</p><p>"I wasn't aware cornering someone was considered a civil conversation now."</p><p>They hadn't replied and so you lay your cards out carefully. The rational part of your brain had told you that these were government officials that had scouted you due to your new form's appearance, most likely to form a contract and keep you within Paris jurisdiction. If you escape now, you'd be held reliable for running away from authority and would most likely be confronted with government officials that were harder to escape next time. You knew your place: a simple teenage girl was powerless in face of the law, even with power behind her. Removing your grip from the bow, you feigned submission and let your body relax. </p><p>Seeing your state, the woman continued, "You're right, actually. A dirty alleyway is not the right place for official conversation," Her brown eyes glinted, "how about we take you to the headquarters?"</p><p>Narrowing your eyes, you swallowed your pride and replied, "This place seems fine. Unless you don't wanna get dirty?"</p><p>Ignoring that, she said, "As you know, Paris has been under the protection of both Ladybug and Cat Noir for the past months, along with the police force. It is unfortunate that a person with similar powers to the two have emerged and since then our police force was ineffective. Crime rates have been increasing. However as heroes, your identity is sacred, is it not? So, in exchange for your protection, we give you protection from the law in your hero form and anonymity. Of course there are other benefits as well, such as having your own personnel." She said coaxingly. </p><p>"In exchange for the integrity of my name?" You asked, unconvinced. "Well, you are still protected according to the Order," She shrugged, "but we have our ways. Your unauthorized 'roaming' around Paris is considered terrorism." You hadn't said a word but kept your steel gaze, "You are, afterall ,destroying and disrupting buildings."</p><p>"Collateral damage." </p><p>"But still damage." She smiled, "Don't worry, both Ladybug and Cat Noir are on the same terms, yours won't be any different." She said as she held papers in front of your face. Grabbing it, you skimmed through the contents, "Will I have time to read this?" Knowing full well how specific wording is a factor in manipulation; you knew of the loopholes in this kinds of situation. "You can't deny me of that."</p><p>"What can you do?" She mocked, "Sue us? You'd have to show your identity, too bad you heroes' privileges can't reach that far. If you do have the guts to sue us, you must be some big shot gal, huh?" She analyzed, "Politician? Politician's daughter? Millionaire? Perhaps a millionaire's daughter?" </p><p>Keeping a calm composure, you refused to let your gaze fall and stared her head-on. You thought of the possible outcomes of this situation and all of it had ended badly. Coerced into it, you finally signed the paper. "Wasn't so hard, was it?"</p><p>Ignoring her, you jumped on the buildings and disappeared into another path.</p><p>-</p><p>Meanwhile, Marinette slumped over her desk, face buried in her arms. Tikki watched sadly as she couldn't see her expression. "Marinette?" The Kwami asked. Bluebelle-eyed girl hadn't responded as she buried her face deeper. A few moments of silence, she lifted her head and the same breathtaking eyes were droopy as red sags underneath them formed. A distraught expression fell on her face, "Have I been doing things wrong?" She asked softly. </p><p>Marinette's feelings fell into swirls of blue and red as a swelling feeling manifested in her chest once more. She couldn't help but feel bad for her past actions; would Adrien really have hated had he known? Unnoticed tears fell from her eyes as she thought of how disgusting she had been. The very person she hated, she had become. Her Ladybug persona had been the personification of justice and peace but for breaking so many laws and moral codes for a simple boy as Marinette had left her in abysmal confusion and guilt. Given the freedom, she felt more herself as Ladybug, then why did her other persona feel like such a criminal?</p><p>She couldn't help but cry over being the very person her love would've hated. "Tikki, he would hate me if he knew." She said desperately, eyeliner running down her face, sobs swelling in her throat. The Kwami watched helplessly, pity overwhelming her as her master fell distraught. "Marinette," She started softly, "I think you should tone it down a little. She could've said it nicer," She referred to you, "but I agree. You can't keep letting your crush for Adrien control your life. There are so many people out there who love you,"</p><p>Marinette's cries died down bit by bit until she was hiccuping. "Like how?" She asked stupidly despite knowing the answer. Deep down, the inner Ladybug in her who called for justice, knew it was wrong but her love for Adrien had blinded her. Obsession, she refused to call it that. Something deep inside her knew it was something else; an unprecedented thought that she subconsciously knew would only grow clearer as she spent her days with thoughts aside from him. "Nevermind, I knew it was wrong but I still did it. I hadn't realized but I left my friends hanging so many times to see him."</p><p>Wiping her tears, she slumped over her desk once more, tired face facing Tikki. They both hadn't said a word to each other, knowing their silence was precious. </p><p>The next school day had been awkward, obvious tension between you and the girls. Admittedly, you had been harsh with your words but at the end of the day, you knew they were correct. Lucky to have been extroverted, despite feigning, you had made friends with the other kids easily and extended your friend group to outside of the class. When Marinette and her friends would pass by, you'd greet them warmingly, refusing to show any signs you were affected by the previous events; you knew afterall how teens spread rumours around. </p><p>It had been pride, you knew, and spite were your driving motives to keeping the childish game up. As mature as you thought you were, you were prideful and having to apologize for doing what was right was an insult to your ego. And so you kept it on. Another week had passed and the tension between you all had disssolved from this dormant anger to cold indifference. Acknowledging of each other's presence but nothing beyond that; respecting each other but not enough to make amends. Before you knew it, the week had passed and another schedule with Adrien had been made. Sunday afternoon, on a supposed sunny day. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Status: Unedited</p><p>I'm back for the second time. Sorry yall, I still have so much shit to do and being made the leader in incompetent groups took a toll on me. I've been having writer's block recently and I hate it so much. This chapter isn't as long as my previous ones which were 10+ pages, so I hope yall could understand; its rushed af. </p><p>I really didnt want this fic to be one of those fics where everyone falls in love w the MC at first site so Im slowly breaking a part the ships and we're starting with Marinette :))</p>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter IX - Canis Major</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Waving goodbye to Alaric, you approached the limousine that waited outside of the studio in lethargic strikes. Once inside, you greeted the driver and let your eyes rest, tired from the shouting and the horrid ache in your legs. You had almost dozed off until that familiar turn in the corner woke you up, hazy eyes focused on the nearby grand hotel. Collapsing on your bed, you let your body relax and heard the buzzing of the Kwamis as they flew. "You should take better care of yourself." Said one. You hadn't replied and only switched to lay on your back, elbow covering your eyes.</p><p>You let yourself stay like that for a few moments until a section of your brain had reminded you of your assignments. Groaning loudly, you angrily snatched your bag and got your homework out. The female slammed it on her desk and grumpily started answering, all the while cursing the name of the teacher who gave it. Once finished, you let your forehead rest on the table, trying to get some shut-eye only to feel that your sleepiness had gone away. Sighing, you left for the bathroom and readied yourself a soak bath. At the last minute, you changed your mind and changed into your swimwear with clothes on top and headed for the pool. "They usually don't come at this time, anyways." </p><p>Upon reaching the rooftop, you stripped yourself of your clothing, folded them and immediately took a dive. The cold water felt refreshing on your heated, frustrated skin. Coming up to the surface in bubbles, you swam to the edge and splashed Kayden and the Kwamis with the water. Ducking away from his upcoming claws, you swam again. Rising up to the surface, you came across an unexpected sight. "What are you doing here?!"</p><p>"Oh, Chloe." You commented, bored. "I thought I said I would be the only one using it this afternoon!"</p><p>The butler apologized, "I'm sorry, madam. I must've not seen her coming in."</p><p>"Sneaky, aren't you?" She commented, "Well, I can't go swimming now because the water's contaminated. God, can you do anything right?" Hand on her hip, she raised her chin at you, "Get out."</p><p>You swam on your back peacefully, knowing it'd piss her off, "Nah."</p><p>You almost let yourself giggle at her growing anger. "Get out or I'm telling daddy."</p><p>You switched positions and swam closer to her, "Tell him." You challenged. Maintaining eye contact, you hardened your gaze as you watched her stare you down. 'Hmph'-ing in frustration, she turned her chin. "You've had your fun, it's my turn."</p><p>"We can share." You commented. Swimming to the ladder, you rose, "Actually, never mind. I wouldn't want to start smelling like a grandma."</p><p>"What?" She asked angrily, "Might want to change your perfume, dear Chloe. I almost mistook you for the client in 302 once."</p><p>Giggling at her frustration, you lay on the lounge chair. "Just swim and stop being dramatic, Chloe." You turned the other way as stripped her clothing and lay on the chair. "Aren't you gonna swim?"</p><p>"Silence, peasant." At her comment, you burst out laughing. "Geez, shut up! It's never quiet with you."</p><p>You got up and had asked for refreshments from the butler on the previous floor. Arriving back on the rooftop, you saw Chloe by the edge. Grinning evilly, you took this as a chance. Going near her ear, you whispered, "Chloe~"</p><p>She screamed and as you laugh loudly, she grabbed you by your arm and you both fell into the water. Underwater, you felt the water rush up your nose and Chloe's soft body was pressed against your back. You instinctively grabbed her arm and pulled her up to the surface with you. Choking, you coughed out the water, letting go of her arm. </p><p>Chloe smacked your back, "What's wrong with you?!" </p><p>"I didn't do shit. Not my fault you reacted to overly." You said as you finally gained your composure. You faced her as she said, "If you didn't scare me like that, we wouldn't have fallen!"</p><p>"We would've gotten wet either way, what's the point? Plus, it was fun."</p><p>"Fun for you! I had to take the damage, you twat!"</p><p>"Damage," you snorted, "This is what real damage looks like." You heavily splashed her face, laughing. She screamed loudly and attempted to splash you too. Water had gotten in your eye but your attacks remained consistent. She screamed for you to stop but you only laughed and made your attacks go faster. Arms getting tired, you ceased them and swam out of the pool carefreely. "You're just gonna leave like that?!"</p><p>"What?" You asked, "so you enjoyed it, is that what you mean?" You watched in amusement as Chloe began cursing you out, face turning red. You laughed as you headed out of the pool in your old clothing and never looked back. Upon reaching your room, you collapsed on your bed and almost immediately dozed off.</p><p>The next school day you had gone with slightly visible eyebags, your friends from the higher grades commenting on it. Waving them off, you joked about their messy hair and laughed. Spotting Marinette and the others in the corner of your eye, you debated whether making your current friend group laugh loudly as your way of showing you weren't affected by what happened. Petty, yes but as mature as you are, you held on to your pride tightly. Deciding against it, you continued the conversation. Seeing them move closer to where you are, you guessed that they had wanted to talk to you. Taking the risk, you told your friends you'd be heading into class and waved them off. </p><p>About to head to class, Marinette talked to you, "Hey, (Y/N). Is it alright if we talk for a bit?" Feigning a faintly shocked expression, you nodded. She and the others had led you to a private bench and sat down. There was an awkward silence between all of you and they had avoided your intense stare. Even Alex, who was the feistiest of them all, refused to meet your gaze as if they were from the devil himself. Rose and Juleka were simultaneously silent and the blonde's perpetual chatter was no longer heard. Alya, who was the friendliest of them all, sat with her arms crossed and wouldn't look at you. Lastly, was Marinette, who felt like the antagonist whom the hero had exposed. Noticing the tension in the air, you started, "What's up?"</p><p>"I've been...well," She sighed, "Listen, we've.. I've been thinking about what happened a few days ago and you're right," She struggled with her words, "I-I have been really stalkerish around him and I acknowledge that." </p><p>She took a deep breath, "I'll be stopping that from now on. Like you told me, I don't have to move on but I do need to respect Adrien and his privacy as well. I wouldn't want anyone following me either." She sighed, "It'll be hard, I know but I have limits now." Marinette struggled with her words as guilty thoughts invaded her mind endlessly. Ever since the talk you've had with them, Marinette stayed up late at night with reverberating thoughts that echoed in the chambers of her tainted mind. Everyone had noticed her sudden drop in performance and energy, rarely seen with a smile on her face; shoulders slouched with evergrowing insecurity. Shame sat heavily on her shoulders like she had wronged a vengeful ghost. Guilt had been building up in her bosom and spent the cracks of dawn staring emptily at her ceiling as thin tears leaked down aimlessly. If her Kwami hadn't been there to calm her abyssal thoughts, perhaps Paris would've already been destroyed. And as tempted as she was, she knew that a boy wasn't worth destroying the city for.</p><p>"Thank you for telling me, (Y/N). Otherwise, I would've stayed the same and would continue to hurt Adrien without him knowing."</p><p>In your days of distance, you convinced yourself that it was fine and that you didn't need them but there was a part of you that was genuinely sad over the incident. You knew you had no right to be sad over what happened since you knew that you hadn't even seen them as real friends in the first place; your only intention of befriending them was to maintaining your social status, not wanting to make yourself a target for the mean kids. You knew that you'd be seen as a social outcast should you really act how you feel. </p><p>That, however, was when you were new. Although it had been a month since you joined Paris, you found yourself looking forward to more adventures with your friends. You felt free with Luka, comfortable with Marinette and the girls, nostalgic with Adrien and childish with Chloe. You knew that you were bonding with them, having found something you hadn't found before. And that was sincerity in friendship. Even though Adrien was a model and the son of the best fashion designer, he remained humble and people saw him for who he is. The same could be said for the rest of your classmates. They had seen you for you and not for the title or the fortune you held. Despite millions flowing within your family's bank accounts, not once had they asked you to buy them stuff even a simple treat had them bashful. </p><p>When you had distanced yourself from them, there was pride from both sides that prevented the other from speaking first. On the fourth day, you had contemplated apologizing first because it had genuinely, and surprisingly, hurt you to see them drift so far. But you told yourself that you had nothing to apologize for, aside from your rudeness, because someone needed to set Marinette and the others straight. "..It's no problem, Marinette," you hesitated, "I do, however, apologize for saying it meanly."</p><p>"Actually," Alex started as she rubbed her nape, "we needed to hear it that way. Otherwise, we'd probably think you're just being playful." </p><p>"I wanna say sorry too. As Marinette's best friend, I should've been the first to say it." Alya said as she finally looked at you, guilt in her hazel eyes. "We've known Marinette longer, it was wrong of us to continue tolerating it." Rose sniffed.</p><p>"I'm so sorry," The bluenette said, "I've dragged you guys into these because I couldn't control myself." She buried her face in her hands and you heard her small sniffles. Crouching in front of her, you softly pried her soft hands away from her face. God, there was that beautiful face again. Even as she cried, she looked as beautiful as she would smile. Soft red nose and slightly puffed eyes. Her eyes were closed shut as she cried softly. Gingerly wiping her tears away, you cupped her face and smiled at her softly. Her sad bluebell eyes looked at you, "Don't blame yourself, silly. You've acknowledged what happened and are actively trying to fix it. You've hurt and been hurt, so let yourself heal this time, okay?"</p><p>Nodding softly, she pulled you closer. Wrapping an arm around her back and the other sat at the back of her head, you hugged her tightly. Burying your face in her hair that smelled like strawberries and vanilla, you softly inhaled her scent. Being slightly taller, she wrapped her thin arms around your waist. Marinette at this moment felt safe in your embrace. You had spoken comforting words and offered her solace even if she knew that it was her fault; she felt as though she didn't deserve your grace and forgiveness. You gave everyone a chance for redemption, she thought. </p><p>Pulling away, you said, "Well, what are you guys watching us for? Join in." You laughed as the girls tackled you and Marinette on the floor. </p><p>"So we're friends again?!" Rose asked excitedly. "Who said we stopped?" You laughed.</p><p>-</p><p>You observed the villain tactfully as your brain made immediate plans. From the corner of your eye, you saw Ladybug and Cat Noir's playful banter, that oddly seemed flirtatious. The villain this time was a pink-skinned woman in all black clothing. Spotting the weapon in her hands that was the only one with colour, you told your teammates about it. Stopped in their banter, they walked to where you were and observed the woman. You watched her hold her staff and a pink beam erupted from it, hitting the civilians and watched as their clothes turned black and mindlessly followed her. </p><p>"Hey, Cat, don't you think we'd be able to blend with the crowd?" You joked. He, in turn, laughed as well, "Nah, I think that's just you. You're already mindless soo," He dragged.</p><p>You scoffed, "Coming from the person who's always the bait?" </p><p>An offended look on his face, he put his hand on his hips, "Are you tolerating a bully in our team, Bugaboo?"</p><p>"Ugh, shut up, both of you." She said as she rubbed her temples. She signalled for the both of you to follow her lead and you did. You still hadn't gotten the hang of adjusting to Ladybug's crazy plans, especially when you were the type to think more rationally and straightforwardly. Your plans were direct, calculated, and mathematical; compared to Ladybug's which were out-of-the-box and creative, you could never understand her. Even with your great mind that won you multiple competitions, not once had you predicted what Ladybug had planned. </p><p>You had leapt in the air and summoned three arrows and shot it in a straight line, forcing her to jump back. Cat Noir had gone in directly and attacked her head-on with his staff. Metak pole swinging to her left temple, she dodged to the right. As predicted, you shot an arrow to her right, narrowly grazing the pink temple by millimetres. Pink flesh was sliced slightly but no blood leaked, as if the body had not a drop of it. There was only soft, petal pink flesh that stiched itself with work-like structures. Joining in on the fight, both you and Cat Noir threw punches and kicks until she was backed in a pole. Ladybug had wrapped her in the pole with her yo-yo. </p><p>About to take her crown, the black-clothed zombies tackled her in a heap. Both you and the blonde hero were about to save her until multiple people stood in your way. Nodding your head to the buildings, you both jumped and ran on the rooftops and leapt down, kicking a few zombies on top of the pile. The zombies that were kicked recognized your faces and followed you instead. Concocting a plan, you spotted a TV shop nearby you. Stealing Cat Noir's staff, you threw it at the glass, effectively breaking it and blared the alarms. The boy made a sound at you, "Okay, sure. Steal it while I was defending myself."</p><p>"Better you than me." You grinned at him cheekily. Even with your mask, the blonde saw the curls in the fabric that showed your teasing grin. The zombies had changed their attention from Ladybug, to the TV shop, and finally to you. Grabbing his staff again, you threw it at him and ran in the opposite direction. "Meet me at the tower! I'll lead them away." </p><p>Nodding, Cat Noir helped Ladybug up and jumped away from the scene. You ran as hoards of people followed you, 'This is kind of exciting-ish. It's like I'm in the Walking Dead.'</p><p>Running faster, you sharply turned in the corner and hid in the alley. Like those cliche scenes in the movies, the mindless hoard had gone on ahead while you leaned your back against the dirty wall. Carefully scaling the wall, you hid behind the chimneys as you looked for the villain. She was perched on top of the Arc de Triomphe, with your heightened vision, you saw her mouthing something, probably having one of those villain monologues they go on about before getting defeated. </p><p>Jumping buildings to reach the tower, you met up with the other two. They were fighting off the crawling hoard that climbed up the tower as if they were ants. "Ladybug!" You called from the base of the tower, unable to climb with the number of zombies. Upon spotting you, she threw her yo-yo at you and you grabbed it, quickly getting lifted as she pulled. While getting lifted, you took on the pleasure of kicking a few ants out of the way. You landed on their platform with an elegant flip. "Got a plan, my lady?"</p><p>"Hey, watch it. Only I can call her that!" Cat said annoyed. "What you 'gon do? You're just a cat."</p><p>"Cats like me eat you for dinner," He smirked. Your body went stuff at that but quickly relaxed. You knew the remark was a nod to your Miraculous being a fish but still, it sounded wrong. You internally shook your head and rid of the dirty thoughts, "...Anyways,"</p><p>"No time for chatter, guys. We're kind of busy," She said sarcastically as she punched a zombie. Fighting off the zombie to her left, you all jumped to another platform where she called for her Lucky Charm. Out from it came a large blanket. "What do we do with that?" You asked.</p><p>Looking around, she smirked, "Follow my lead." You didn't know what that meant but you followed her and Cat Noir anyways. "Medusa, I need you to nullify a random person." She ordered and you complied, randomly choosing a person. They emerged from a bright light with a confused look on his face. Swinging him over your shoulder, you both jumped up to the top of the tower. Feeling the breeze in your face, you followed as she instructed you to grab a corner of the blanket. Once the four of you had a corner in your hands, you all jumped, the breeze of the wind gliding you along gracefully. Well, if not for the random civilian screaming but, oh well. </p><p>The villain had spotted you and beamed your way but you all had avoided it by adjusting the blanket. She had beamed another ray at you again and it seemed you couldn't avoid this once. Quickly, you looked around you for the best possible solution. You cursed because you knew this situation called for it, but you knew it would go against the moral code of your teammates. </p><p>Sacrifice for the greater good. It was a code that humanity lived by for millennia. To determine whether the saying was cruel or not depended on what noun came after the verb. Who would you sacrifice? Yourself or others. It was known as heroic and noble to sacrifice yourself but deemed as selfish to sacrifice others. However, your life was equally as precious as another so why is it noble to sacrifice yours instead of others. Perhaps it was consent, while you could consent to sacrifice yourself, sacrificing others without theirs did seem diabolical. Regardless, the point still stood, your life was equally as important as the rest so you wouldn't base the sacrifice off that. </p><p>You decided, you'd base it off the contribution. You couldn't sacrifice Ladybug nor Cat Noir, you had no right to. They were Paris' loyal guardians and you were new to the team. That obviously only left you with the civilian and you. Even as the newest member, you helped save the city multiple times and quickly gained a key role in the battle against Hawk Moth; that gave you every right to say you had more use than a random civilian who was attacking you a few minutes ago. It was the only rational choice, to sacrifice the weak.</p><p>Looking over your shoulder, your eye glinted darkly. The civilian had caught your gaze and immediate fear wrecked his entire being. From your look, he could tell what you were planning and his hands started getting clammy, the blanket almost slipping from his grip. Before you made any action to grab him, Cat Noir had propelled himself to the front and took the hint, smiling softly at Ladybug. "Cat Noir!" She screamed while your mouth lay ajar. </p><p>With the male transformed, it had only been the three of you and the imbalance of weight had caused you all to fall. Quickly grabbing you and the civilian, Ladybug used her yo-yo to swing her to the base of the arc. "Do we still need him?" You nodded your head towards the petrified civilian. "Now that Cat Noir's gone, my plan's ruined." She said hopelessly. </p><p>Hearing the beep of your bracelet, you said, "Not all plans need to be complicated. Let's keep cornering her and don't let her out of the arc's platform. I'll push her off and you wrap her with your yo-yo."</p><p>Nodding at your plan, you both jumped to each end of the arc, closing in on the villain. She was about to jump away until Ladybug had used her yo-yo to bring her back. You immediately closed in and exchanged blows with the villain, your gaze like steel. Ladybug had been at her back, effectively closing her off from any escape. She took a couple of blows until you had finally kicked her off the edge, Ladybug using her yoyo to wrap around her entire body. Jumping up, you summoned an arrow and shot the weapon in her hand, releasing the darkened akuma. Ladybug had immediately caught it and used her Lucky Charm to turn everything back into normal. </p><p>Now beside Cat Noir, you helped him up. "Huh? What happened?" </p><p>"You sacrificed yourself, that's what." Upon seeing the damage undone, he whined, "Aw, man. I didn't even get to use my Cataclysm." </p><p>"Because you are, in fact, virtually useless." You laughed as he huffed. What you didn't expect however is for Cat Noir to lock you in a headlock and brutally grinded his fist on your forehead. You struggled against his old, cheeks turning red. "Cat Noir!" You whined.</p><p>"This is revenge because you're a twat! This is revenge." Finally getting out of his hold, you rub the top of your head, "I hate you." Cat Noir looks proudly as he puffs his chest.</p><p>"This is why black cats are considered bad luck." </p><p>"Good luck, in some cultures." He corrected. "In hunting, in fact."</p><p>"And like I said earlier," His face moved closer to yours, piercing emerald hues gazing into your (E/C) ones, "Cats like me eat you for dinner."</p><p>Unsure of the relationship between Cat Noir and Ladybug, you pushed his smirking face away. You were a selfish person but you weren't the type to get in between someone's relationship. "Cats like me eat you for dinner," You mocked him in a high-pitched voice. You insulted, "Okay, nerd." </p><p>"I hate you," He said, arms crossed. </p><p>"I hate you," You mocked once more.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Status: Unedited</p><p>and they were roomates</p><p>Thank you for the kudos and comments!</p>
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